


A Tangled Web

by jasam09andforever



Category: Descendants (Disney Movies)
Genre: Attempted Rape/Non-Con, Core Four Friendship, Eating Disorders, Established Relationship, Evie-centric (Disney), Evie/Mal-centric (Disney), F/F, Flashbacks, Fluff, Hurt/Comfort, Minor Jay/Carlos de Vil, My First Work in This Fandom, Nightmares, Past Rape/Non-con, Protective Jay (Disney), Protective Mal (Disney), Secret Relationship, Sleepy Cuddles, Trauma
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-12-02
Updated: 2021-01-03
Packaged: 2021-02-24 16:41:01
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 45
Words: 371,719
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21641104
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/jasam09andforever/pseuds/jasam09andforever
Summary: When Ben meets Evie, Mal, Carlos, and Jay, he immediately realizes that something is...off. Everyone else in Auradon seems to fear Mal, but Evie is the one he keeps his eyes on. Mal may be the leader, but Evie is the center of their little world and it is becoming increasingly obvious that she is hiding something.
Relationships: Evie/Mal (Disney)
Comments: 499
Kudos: 969





	1. Evaluations

**Author's Note:**

> Hello! This is the first thing I have written in a long time, and my first time writing for Descendants. This story is going to be a wild ride. If you have any comments/criticisms, feel free to let me know! If there is anything you want to see, tell me that too and I will see what I can do.

When Ben decided to bring four villain kids to Auradon from the Isle of the Lost, he expected there to be some bumps. He understood that they were victims of their parents’ actions, and in his mind, they were good people in a bad situation. It didn’t hit him until they arrived that they may not be as innocent as he thought. 

They had decided that upon arrival, the VKs would be brought into a center where they would be evaluated. In order to truly get an idea of where they were mentally and physically, Ben’s parents had chosen to isolate them. 

Originally, it seemed like a good idea. But once the limo actually drove across the bridge and they stumbled out, he realized it probably wasn’t going to be easy. 

As soon as Ben’s eyes landed on the four teens, he realized that he may be in over his head. The girl with the purple hair, Mal, was glaring at him as if he had just kidnapped her from her home (and honestly, he kind of did). Next to her was the girl with blue hair and a crown, Evie. Her smile was big and she batted her eyelashes at him, but even he could see how dull her brown eyes were. The smaller boy, Carlos, was jumpy and seemed to be struggling to take everything in. The taller boy, Jay, was studying his surroundings, looking as if he was ready to jump out and fight anyone who dared to mess with him or his friends. 

“Welcome to Auradon! I’m Prince Ben, son of Adam and Belle.” 

“It’s so nice to meet you, Ben.” Evie said, reaching out and running her hand down his arm. “I like your suit. You know, I’m a princess since my mother is the Evil Queen and…”

“No you’re not.” Audrey chimed in. “Her royal status was revoked here, so you’re nothing.” She smiled in an overly sweet way. 

He didn’t miss the way the other three moved, as if they were ready to attack. Ben just smiled at her. “Thank you, Evie. If you follow me, I can show you to where you will be staying.” 

“But Benny-boo…”

“Audrey, I’ll catch up with you later.” She turned back to the VKs. “Come on.” 

The teens looked hesitant, standing close together. Their postures were defensive, and they were all turned slightly so they could see all the angles around them. He just smiled reassuringly and led them towards the health center. 

When they arrived, Adam and Belle were waiting. “Hello, it’s nice to meet you all.” Adam greeted. “I’m King Adam, and this is my wife, Queen Belle.” 

Mal scoffed. “Yeah, as if we could forget your names.” 

Ben was momentarily thrown off, but then he remembered that, technically, his parents did imprison them onto the Isle of the Lost. He was sure that there were some hard feelings. 

“You will each have your own rooms for now.” Belle picked up, smiling gently. “I’m going to show you to them.” 

“That’s okay.” Jay interrupted. “We’ll stay together.” 

Adam stepped forward. “It’s not really a choice, son.”

Jay walked closer. “You are _not_ my father.” 

“Okay, I think we’re getting off on the wrong foot here.” Ben intercepted. “We are putting you into separate rooms so that you can be evaluated. We want to make sure you’re healthy and…”

“You’re going to poke and prod us like animals?” Mal said with a glare. It didn’t go unnoticed that she stepped defensively in front of the others. “That’s not happening.” 

“What if we’re not healthy?” Evie questioned. “Are you just going to throw us back onto the Isle?” 

“No.” Ben wasn’t sure what to say. He probably wouldn’t like being separated from his friends either if he was in an unfamiliar place.

“Listen, Benny-boo.” Mal came closer to him. “We’re not going to be locked into cages or…” 

“Definitely not cages.” He interrupted. “You’ll be completely safe, I swear. A doctor will come into the room and examine you, and there will be someone to ask you some questions. You will have to spend the night here, but as soon as everything checks out okay, you’ll be at the dorms.” He tried to give them a sympathetic smile. “At least you can wait a little longer before you start school.” 

He could see the four of them trading glances, trying to decide what they should do. He opened the door leading to the hallway that would contain their rooms. “Do you want to at least check them out?” 

Ben studied them. Carlos looked absolutely terrified, Jay was frowning, Evie’s face was completely blank, and Mal looked angry. It was Evie who finally stepped forward. “Let’s go.” She encouraged her friends. Ben saw the way Carlos reached out and grabbed her hand, following closely behind her. Mal and Jay were more hesitant, but they went too. 

“Each room has a bed and desk and books. You’ll get hot meals and you’ll be able to meet up in the common room, where you can play games and watch TV. Remember, this is only until the doctors think it’s safe. There are a lot of germs and illnesses here that you might not have built up immunity to, so you’ll need to get shots.”

“Shots?” Carlos questioned. “You’re going to shoot us?”

“No, it sounds worse than it is. There’s a little needle that they’ll put into your arm that will expose you to the virus so that your body can fight it off.”

“So you’re going to make us sick?”

“It doesn’t make you sick.” Ben explained. “I’m not sure exactly how it works, but it will help you. Otherwise, you’re going to be exposed to all these new germs and you’ll get really sick.”

“Please, as if this place has any germs that the Isle didn’t have. We ate rotten food.” Jay said with a roll of his eyes. 

Ben led them to where their rooms would be. There were glass windows on each door and they were all on the same side of the wall so that they couldn’t see each other. “I know that you guys are in a new place and this is scary, but I promise that we’re trying to help you.” 

Mal made a noise. “As if this is anything to be scared of.” She brushed past them all and went into one of the rooms. 

Jay looked to Carlos and Evie. “If anyone touches you or…”

“We’ll be fine, Jay.” Carlos sighed before going into a room. 

Evie smiled. “See you soon.” 

“You too, Princess.” They went into their rooms. 

Each of the doors were shut, locking automatically. Ben sighed in relief and turned, meeting his parents’ gaze. 

Adam looked at him proudly. “You’re going to make a great king, Ben.” 

But Ben wasn’t so sure. He felt terrible for locking them up after they finally got some freedom from the island they had been trapped on since their birth. He just hoped that everything would check out okay so they could start school and have their first experience with a normal life. 

\-----

Three days later, Ben was given permission to skip school so he could go to the health center. He was ready to hear what the team of doctors had discovered about the VKs. Honestly, the four of them fascinated him and he was curious to hear about how they had reacted to spending the last couple nights alone. 

“Good morning, Dr. Williams.” He greeted as he entered. “Do you have a moment to discuss our new guests?”

“Of course, Prince Ben. Come right this way.” He led him down the hall and into his office. “You certainly chose some interesting kids.” 

“How are they doing? Are they cooperating?” 

Dr. Williams shrugged. “Well, as much as you would expect a villain kid to cooperate. There are definitely signs of trauma starting to show already.” 

“Okay. What did you find out?” 

“Let’s start with Jay. Physically, he’s in great shape, but a little underweight. He wasn’t happy with the idea of changing into a gown for the full exam, so that took a while to talk him into. There is some scarring on his back and arms, almost like he was beaten with a whip. He is very protective of the others and he just kept asking to see them. When asked about the Isle, he told us that it was a dangerous place and they did what they had to do, and he refused to talk about his father.”

“Was he able to get vaccinated?” 

“Yes.” Ben nodded in understanding. “Mal was a little harder to convince. She is also underweight, and she downright refused to get into a gown. We did what we could, and she is healthy and did the vaccines. She’s very rude and sarcastic, and quick to get defensive. I can tell she is manipulative. Like Jay, she kept demanding to see her friends. She told us that her mother is in power on the Isle, and that ‘if you want to stay alive, you have to have power’.” 

Ben was interested in that statement. He filed that away for later. “What about Carlos?” 

“Underweight and has a lot of scarring. When he was given food, he scarfed it down as if it would be taken away at any second. He huddled in the corner whenever we came near him, so it took a while before he allowed us to do the vaccines. He is very jumpy and doesn’t like loud noises. I see some signs of physical abuse based on the bruising on his body and his reactions. He struggles with making eye contact and his answers were short and to the point.” 

“Yeah, I could see that yesterday. He seems a little awkward.” 

“Out of the four, I think Evie is the hardest to figure out. She’s very polite and talkative, but only when it’s on her terms and a subject she wants to talk about. For example, she had been talking and cooperating, but when I asked her to put on a gown, she started to get upset and her hands were shaking and she refused. She did allow us to give her vaccines, and like the others, she is underweight. At meal times, she only really picked at her food, not even finishing half of it. She was saying how excited she is to be here, and when I asked about the Isle, she shut down.” 

“Okay, so overall, would you say that they are healthy?”

“Physically, yes. I think that there is work to do with all four of them mentally, and I would recommend weekly visits to a therapist.” 

“Do you think they’re ready to come to Auradon Prep?” 

Dr. Williams looked at him. “I want to try something first. I want to let them all see each other and watch how their relationship with each other works. If they have healthy relationships with one another, I think we can release them today.” 

“Okay, good. Let’s go.” 

Dr. Williams led the way to the rooms. Ben curiously glanced into the windows. Mal was laying upside down on her bed with her head hanging off. When she saw him, she stood. He kept walking and saw that Carlos was on the bed huddled under the blankets, Evie was drawing at the desk but turned towards the side so she could still see the door, and Jay was just laying on the bed staring up at the ceiling. 

The first thing Ben noticed was that Mal, Jay, and Carlos were in new clothes. They all had on identical black sweatpants and gray long sleeved shirts. Evie, however, was still in her Isle clothes. 

“Why aren’t they in their clothes?” 

“Because many of the pieces sewn into the fabric could be used as a weapon. We tried to get Evie to change too, but she refused. I’m going to leave her in her room until she changes; hopefully once she sees her friends, she’ll do it.” 

Ben didn’t exactly agree with that, but he figured that this man was a doctor and understood this better than he did. 

Mal’s door was unlocked first and she walked out, looking around curiously. “Where are we going now?”

“To the common room.” Ben explained as Dr. Williams unlocked Carlos’s door. The young boy jumped when he heard the door open and sat up, staring at them in a mix of confusion and fear. As soon as he saw Mal, he got up and came out. Dr. Williams skipped Evie’s door, then let Jay out, who joined the others. 

“Why didn’t you let Evie out?” Mal demanded. 

“She refused to change into the clothes I gave her. As I explained to you, you can’t wear anything that could be used as a weapon.” 

“So you threw clothes at a teenaged girl and expected her to change in front of you?” Mal narrowed her eyes. “You really thought that would go over well?”

“It doesn’t have to be in front of me. If she wants to come out, she has to change.” 

Mal went over to Evie’s door. “Did you hear that, E? Put the clothes on and you can come out with us.” Ben watched as Mal glanced towards Jay and Carlos, then nodded towards the door. All three of the VKs went over, standing in front of the window on Evie’s door as if they were guarding her from Ben and Dr. Williams’ sight. 

A moment later, Ben heard a mumbled voice from behind the door. Mal turned and looked inside, then all three of them moved so that Dr. Williams would unlock the door. Evie walked out slowly, smoothing down her hair and clothes as she walked. 

“We’re going to go to the common room.” Dr. Williams announced. He turned and started to walk in that direction. Ben watched as Jay slung an arm over Carlos’s shoulder, and Mal whispered into Evie’s ear. They all four seemed to be checking in with each other, scanning their eyes across bodies to make sure there were no injuries. 

Once they got into the room, Dr. Williams took a seat. Mal let out a loud groan. “You’re going to sit here and babysit us?” 

“I want the four of you to be able to spend some time together.” Ben jumped in. “For that to happen, he has to be present.” 

Mal rolled her eyes, but went over and sat on the couch. Evie instantly sat next to her, while Carlos took the chair next to the couch, and Jay sat on the table across from the girls. They spoke in hushed tones. 

Ben leaned over to Dr. Williams. “We can’t even hear what’s going on. How is this going to help?” 

“I can already see a difference. They’re more relaxed now that they’re with each other. You wouldn’t have believed how different Carlos looked when he was on his own. Mal was much snappier, Jay was a lot more tense, and I tried everything possible to get Evie to put on those clothes and for them, she was dressed in minutes. I think having people to relate to will help them to adjust. It seems like they’re opposites; Mal and Jay are defensive and argumentative and strong-willed, while Evie and Carlos seem calmer and like they can balance them out. You have them as roommates, right?”

“Yes, Evie and Mal, and Jay and Carlos.” Ben turned to the doctor. “Now that you think they’re okay, is it alright to give them their clothes back? I don’t want them to be forced into a new place and think that they have to completely change who they are.” 

“If that’s what you would like to do, then I think that’s alright.” 

Ben stood up and approached the group. As soon as they saw him, they all tensed up, locking their gazes on the young prince. 

“Your bags are here. You are going to be able to take a shower and get dressed, and then I’m going to show you around Auradon Prep.” 

“We’re getting out of here?” Jay questioned. 

“You’re getting out.” Ben confirmed. 

If only he knew what an interesting ride they had ahead of them.


	2. Bad Habits

As the teenagers got their first look at Auradon, Mal couldn’t help but think about the real reason they were there. She knew that she couldn’t disappoint her mother, but there was so much more riding on this trip. There was no room for error, and she would do everything she could to avoid messing up. 

She half listened to Ben’s tour while also focusing on her friends. Seeing each other and showering had definitely done wonders for their moods. Carlos and Jay seemed to be warming up to Auradon, and they didn’t seem as nervous as they had in the health center. But it was Evie who Mal put most of her attention on. She looked shaky, pale, and Mal could see how spaced out she was. 

“Hey.” She whispered, nudging her. “You okay? Did they hurt you? I swear I will…” 

“I’m fine, M.” Evie looked up at her, plastering a smile on her face. “Just excited!” 

“…and this is the cafeteria, where we have our meals.” Ben looked at his watch. “Actually, it’s about lunch time. We can grab some food and sit down.” 

“Are we allowed to take food to go?” Mal questioned, earning a glare from Evie. 

“If you need to, yes, but meals are a good way to meet new friends.” He suggested gently. “Would you like to eat or keep doing the tour?”

“Eat.” Carlos and Jay answered immediately. 

“Alright, let’s grab something.” 

As they approached the counter, Mal’s eyes widened. She didn’t think she had ever seen this much food in one place before. Even more surprising, none of it was rotten. 

“What do we have to pay for this?” Mal demanded. 

Ben smiled. “It’s part of being a student here. It’s free.”

“Nothing is free.” Jay chimed in. 

“When you sign up to go to school here, you pay a fee. Your fee is covered by the VK exchange student program, of course. You can get what you want.” Ben grabbed a tray and started to grab a few food items. 

The boys followed his lead and grabbed trays. Mal walked behind them, noticing that Carlos pocketed an extra apple, and Jay had snatched a few wrapped sandwiches. She glanced back at Evie, whose eyes were wide. 

“Just grab something.” Mal said. 

“I’m not…” 

“Here.” Mal reached out, grabbing something wrapped in some kind of foil. “Try this.”

“M, I’m really not hungry.”

“E, I didn’t ask.” Mal put the same thing on her own tray, then grabbed some fruit and a few other things. Evie only had the foil on her tray and then she took a water. They joined the three boys at a table. 

“What kind of food do you guys like? I can try to make sure we serve it here.” Ben offered. 

Carlos had his mouth half full as he answered. “Trust me, you don’t want them to make anything we usually eat.”

“Why not?”

“This is way better than the shit we had on the Isle.” Jay stated. He looked at Mal and Evie’s trays. “What is that?”

“A hamburger.” Ben responded. 

Mal unwrapped hers curiously. She saw some type of bread, some vegetables that actually looked fresh, and something she suspected was meat. They only really had fish on the Isle, so she wasn’t sure how it would taste. She saw how nervous Evie looked and just took the chance, biting into her burger. 

“It’s good.” She told her friends. “Try it, Eves.” 

“I don’t like hamburgers.”

“You’ve never had it before.” 

“Is there something else you want, Evie? I can run up and grab it.” Ben told her with a genuine smile. 

Evie was all smiles and eyelashes after that. “Oh no, Ben, I wouldn’t want to trouble you. I’m okay; I’m still full from breakfast.” 

Mal heard Jay scoff and she looked over, sending him a warning look. He seemed to catch the hint because he held his hands up in surrender. 

“Here, try this instead.” Carlos held a small bar out to Evie. 

“What’s that?”

“It’s a granola bar.” Ben said. “You guys really didn’t have any of this on the Isle?” 

“We had rotten fruit, old vegetables, stale bread, and fish.” Jay listed off. “You know, whatever was left over from here.”

“Jay!” Evie gasped. 

“What? He’s the one who asked.” 

“Ben, come sit with us.” The dark haired girl who had met them when they arrived, Audrey, said. 

“That’s okay, we’re still finishing our tour.” Ben told her. Audrey rolled her eyes and stormed off. 

Mal raised an eyebrow. “Looks like your girlfriend is upset.” She wanted to make the girl a lot more than upset for what she said to Evie, but she couldn’t do something irrational and screw this up. 

“She’ll get over it.” Mal could feel him looking over them, studying each of them as if they were the most fascinating thing on the planet. 

But Mal didn’t have time to entertain Ben. She nudged Evie, nodding towards the granola bar Carlos had handed her. She brought it up to her mouth and took a tiny bite. Mal gave her a small smile. 

“So what’s left on the tour?” Jay wondered, pulling Ben’s attention away from the two girls. Mal was happy for the distraction. 

“M…” Evie whimpered. 

“I know.” The purple haired girl reached over and grabbed her hand underneath the table, squeezing it. “Please.” 

Evie finished the whole granola bar, and even drank some of her water. Carlos slid a bowl of pineapple across the table and towards his friend, knowing it was Evie’s favorite fruit (though they rarely got it when it was fresh). She shook her head no and Mal allowed it, relieved that Evie at least put something in her stomach. 

“…and we’ll get to see your rooms next.” Ben stated. 

“Let’s go.” Mal agreed, standing and grabbing her tray. The others followed her lead and they threw away their garbage. Ben led the way down a long hallway. 

“This is the boys’ room.” He said after they took an elevator to the 5th floor. “There is a bed, a dresser, and a desk for each of you, along with an attached bathroom and a TV.” He opened the door. The teens were surprised to see that Carlos and Jay’s bags had already been delivered to the room. 

“We really get beds?” Carlos said in awe. He walked over to one and sat down. “It’s so soft!” 

Jay moved forward, testing out the other bed. “Wow.” 

Evie and Mal couldn’t help themselves as they moved forward, each sitting on one of the beds.

Ben looked at them in confusion. “Were the beds not comfortable on the Isle?”

Mal snorted. “I wouldn’t even call what we had beds.” 

“Would you like to rest for a little bit and we can meet back up later? I’ll show Mal and Evie to their room.” 

“Yeah.” Jay agreed as he sprawled out on the soft comforter, resting his head on Evie’s lap. She ran her fingers through his hair. 

“Come on, E.” Mal practically ordered. She and Evie joined Ben near the door. 

“How will we know where your room is?” Carlos wondered. 

“You guys are in 5C.” Ben explained. “Evie and Mal are on the 7th floor, room G.” 

“Got it.” The boys spoke in perfect unison. 

Ben spoke to the girls about their classes on the ride up to the 7th floor, but they were both pretty tired and not really interested in thinking about their studies. When they got to their room, Ben smiled politely and opened the door before excusing himself. 

“Wow.” Evie gasped as she walked in. Mal watched with a small smile as Evie moved around the room, inspecting every detail. “It’s beautiful.” 

“Yeah.” She agreed, keeping her eyes planted on the blue haired princess. 

Evie noticed and rolled her eyes. “Don’t be sappy with me.” 

“You love when I’m sappy.” Mal moved forward, tugging Evie towards the bed. She sat down and pulled Evie to stand between her legs. “This is weird.” 

“It’s very different.” Evie agreed. She rested her hands on Mal’s shoulders. “I know that not much has happened yet, but I’m exhausted.” 

“We left the Isle, and then we were separated for three days and locked in rooms like animals. That’s a lot.” Mal pulled her forward until Evie was straddling her lap. “Plus, I bet you haven’t been eating. I’m sure that doesn’t help.” 

“Can we not start?” Evie questioned weakly, her eyes looking into Mal’s pleadingly. 

“How were the last couple nights? Did they hurt you? Did that doctor put his hands on you?” Mal demanded. She was running her fingers through Evie’s long blue curls. Evie just rested her head on Mal’s shoulder and let her soothe her worries away. All four of the VKs were bad when it came to overthinking, but Mal knew that Evie worried the most. She had to already be running every possible bad scenario through her mind. 

“No. I’m okay, M. Promise.” Evie leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss against the side of Mal’s neck, silently thanking her for trying to calm her down. Mal turned her head so she could catch Evie’s lips. 

Time stood still as Mal got lost in Evie, clinging to the older girl. They were both full of nerves and anxiety, but it all melted away when they were this close to each other. After leaving their home and being separated in a strange place for three days, they just needed to be close and make sure they were okay. 

Mal pulled back before things could go any further. She smiled at the sight of Evie’s smeared lipstick and swollen lips. “God, you’re so fucking beautiful.” 

Evie blushed instantly. She reached up, swiping her fingers over her lips and seeing that they were red. She groaned and tried to get up. 

“No, let’s lay down.”

“I need to clean up.” 

“No one will be seeing you but me, and I love seeing you like this.” Mal laid down, pulling Evie with her. She could see that Evie wasn’t going to give in, so she reached out, dabbing at her face with the sleeve of her own t-shirt. She made sure all the lipstick was clear. “There.” 

“Thank you.” Evie smiled. “You always know exactly what I need.” 

“It’s my job.” 

Evie giggled. “You have lipstick on your face too.”

“I don’t care.” Mal pulled her closer. “Sleep, baby.” 

Evie cuddled up to her. Mal occupied her hands by running her fingertips up and down Evie’s back. Soon enough, her breathing evened out and right after, Mal felt herself drifting off. 

\-----

When Evie woke up, she heard talking. She didn’t care enough to listen, instead scooting closer to her source of warmth. She felt arms tighten around her and knew without opening her eyes that it was Mal. She nuzzled her face further into Mal’s neck. 

“I thought you agreed that you were going to pretend you’re not in a relationship.” Evie nearly groaned when she heard Jay’s voice. She just wanted to sleep.

“No one is here to see us, now are they?” Mal stroked her hair and Evie nearly fell asleep again. 

“We just need to be careful.” 

“What Evie and I do is none of your concern.”

“It is. You’re our best friends and like it or not, the choices we make here will affect all of us.” 

“So you’re saying you want us to break up?”

“That’s not what he’s saying at all.” Carlos interrupted. “You just need to be careful.”

“We will be.”

Jay spoke again. “And what’s up with Evie not eating?” 

“She’s awake.” Mal informed them. Evie wasn’t surprised that Mal knew; her eyes were still closed and she hadn’t spoken, but the other girl was intuitive, especially when it came to her girlfriend. 

“Good, then I can ask her. Why aren’t you eating, Evie?” 

She debated on just not answering and pretending she was still asleep. But then she heard Mal sigh, and that made her change her mind. She sat up reluctantly, not wanting to move too far from Mal. Lucky for her, the purple haired girl seemed to feel the same way because she still kept her arms wrapped around her. 

“I can’t.” 

“Evie, you have to eat.” Carlos told her. “We need you to be healthy, okay? We can’t lose you.” 

“I’m fine.” 

“You’re going to eat.” Mal stated, looking down at her. “It’s not up for discussion, and you can be mad all you want. I don’t care.” 

“Mal…”

“There’s nothing I care more about in the world than making sure you’re okay, and this is how I’m going to do that.” Mal kissed her forehead. 

Evie just stared down at the blankets, already dreading the next mealtime. Mal ran her fingertips down her ribs until she finally gave in and smiled, breaking the awkward tension. 

“You still have lipstick on your face.” Evie giggled. Mal smiled back at her then reached up, wiping it off. When she missed a few spots, Evie leaned forward to help her. She rolled her eyes at the boys’ fake gagging noises. 

“Thank you, gorgeous.” Mal placed a loud, smacking kiss against her lips, mostly to annoy the boys. 

“So, what’s the plan for the rest of the day?” Carlos wondered. 

“I guess we’ll meet back up with Ben and see what he wants. Our classes start tomorrow, so that sucks.” Mal said. 

“I’m a little excited.” Evie admitted. 

“Of course you are, you nerd.” Mal kissed her cheek lovingly. Then, she got serious as she turned to face each of her friends. “We can’t mess this up.”

“Nope.” Jay agreed. “This is going to be hard.”

“It can’t be _that_ hard to be good.” All eyes turned to Evie as she spoke. “Okay, so it’s probably going to be hard. But we have to make it work, at least for now.” 

A knock on the door interrupted their conversation. Mal kissed Evie one last time and then stood to answer it. 

Ben smiled. “Oh good, you’re all here. Have you had enough time to rest? I’d like to finish showing you around.”

“Let’s go.” Mal walked out the door, followed by Ben, then the other three.

Evie was holding in a groan. She was sick of hearing all about how great Auradon was. Sure, it was beautiful and there was a lot to offer, but her mind was occupied. She was so ready to wash her face and then curl up in bed with her girlfriend. 

“So, what is it that you all like to do?” Ben questioned. 

All four of them just kind of stood there. On the Isle, the only thing they cared about was staying alive and having power, which weren’t exactly hobbies. 

“Jay’s good at sports.” Carlos blurted out, as if he was scared he would be punished if he didn’t have an answer. 

“We have a Tourney team. Have you ever played?” 

“Never heard of it.” Jay admitted. 

“You and Carlos can come to practice with me tomorrow; I bet you would have a lot of fun.” Ben looked to the girls. “What about you, ladies?”

His smile was so genuine that it made Evie want to come up with something. “Mal is a great artist.” 

Mal smirked. “Yeah, these hallways could use some redecorating.” 

“I don’t think graffiti is what he had in mind.” Evie corrected her. 

“E is good at sewing. You should see how even her stitching is. Jay, show him that scar on your leg.” Mal said. 

“No! That’s okay.” Ben interrupted, his face looking a few shades paler. “Do you make clothes?”

“The best clothes you’ll ever see.” Mal bragged. “She can make the coolest outfits out of scraps.” 

“I’ll see about getting you a sewing machine and some fabrics, Evie, and maybe some art supplies for you, Mal, as long as you promise not to vandalize the school. What about you, Carlos?”

“He’s crazy smart.” Jay chimed in. “He’s great with computers and all that. We didn’t have much on the Isle, but he could put together spare parts.” 

Ben nodded. “I’ll see what I can do about getting you a computer then. I want you all to feel comfortable here. If there’s something you need or want, you can ask me and I will do whatever I can to make it happen.” 

No one really knew how to respond to that. They didn’t want to be treated like charity cases, but they also weren’t sure how to say that without starting a fight. 

“Thank you, Ben.” Evie finally settled on, flashing him a smile. “We appreciate it.” 

“Are these the new kids?” All four of the VKs looked over. Ben’s girlfriend and a boy with blonde hair came over. The boy’s eyes immediately roamed up and down Evie’s body.   
The girlfriend reached up, smacking him on the back of the head. The boy flinched and they started to argue, and even Ben rolled his eyes. 

“Guys, this is my girlfriend, Audrey, and my friend Chad. This is Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos.” 

“So I’ve heard.” Audrey snarled. “Mal, your mother has been the talk of my family for years.”

Evie felt every protective instinct in her body flare up. This girl was _not_ going to be rude to her girlfriend and get away with it. 

“Same.” Mal said casually, picking at her nails in disinterest. 

“Hey, maybe we can meet up some time. I can show you around Auradon, let you know all the best spots.” Chad said as she stepped closer to Evie. 

“Thanks.” Evie smiled, trying to make sure it looked genuine. She didn’t want to make enemies, but she definitely wouldn’t be going anywhere with this creep. Something about him just made her feel…off.

“Are you available tomorrow or…”

“Hey Ben, when is dinner?” Carlos interrupted Chad. The blonde glared, but Evie gave him a grateful smile. 

“Right now.” The king seemed just as happy for the distraction. “Come on, let’s start walking that way.” 

Evie felt the dread creep into her body as they got closer and closer to the cafeteria. Eating was one of the things she hated most in the world and she wasn’t planning on just giving in. 

She looked at the different food options. She wasn’t even sure what a lot of it was, let alone what would be less filling. She watched as Audrey came over and filled up her tray. She figured that the other girl was skinny, so maybe she should just take whatever she took. 

“Good job, baby.” Mal whispered to her once Ben, Audrey and Chad had gone to sit down. “You can do this, E.” 

Evie and Mal followed the boys over to the table. Evie was happy to see that Jay had taken the spot directly across from Chad. The order was Evie across from Audrey, then Mal across from Ben, then Jay across from Chad, followed by Carlos across from an empty seat. 

Everyone was pretty occupied with conversation. Ben and Chad were telling Jay and Carlos about Tourney, while Mal and Audrey had been going back and forth with snide little comments. Evie poked at her food, trying to make it seem as if she had eaten more than she did. 

She took a small bite of her salad and nearly gagged. She had to pinch herself to help her remember where she was and that it was definitely unacceptable for her to get up and puke right now. 

Evie chewed the lettuce, trying as hard as she could to hold her breath, and then swallowed it down with some water. She had grabbed a container of pineapples, so she chose to go for that next; at least she knew that was something she liked. She stabbed one with her fork and took a bite. It was so much sweeter than the ones on the Isle, and she could even admit that she liked the taste. 

Mal noticed she was eating and smiled at her. Evie was just waiting for one of the Auradon kids to scream at them for being gay, but it never happened. She snuck a glance at them and saw that Ben and Audrey were talking, while Chad was still in a conversation with Jay. 

Evie didn’t want to eat anymore, but Mal was looking at her, so she didn’t really have a choice. She turned to Mal’s plate. “What’s that?” she questioned, pointing to a small bowl. 

“Pudding?” Audrey interrupted, as if it was obvious. 

“It’s good. Try it.” Mal encouraged. 

Now, all eyes were on Evie as she picked up her spoon. She really, really didn’t want to try it, especially when everyone was watching her, but now she didn’t have a choice. She took a small bite, then smiled politely. 

“Yeah, it’s good.”

“Good?!” Chad’s outburst caused Evie and Carlos to jump as he stood up from his chair. “Pudding is one of the greatest foods of all time!” 

“Then you’ve never had spoiled soup.” Jay joked, causing the VKs to laugh. 

“What’s spoiled soup?” Ben asked, though it was obvious he was treading lightly in case it made them uncomfortable. 

“It’s when you grab whatever foods you can find on supply drop-off day, dump it in a bowl with some water, and then eat that until the next drop off.” Jay explained. 

Silence.

“Pudding is much better.” Mal said. 

“So, uh, Evie. You have jello on your tray. You should try it; it’s Audrey’s favorite.” Ben informed her. 

Evie looked at the bowl of red…jello, apparently. She laughed nervously and went to reach for it, but her hands were shaking. She couldn’t keep doing this. She couldn’t have everyone stare at her while she ate. 

“I’ll take that.” Jay reached over, snatching the jello off her tray and shoveling a huge bite into his mouth. “Wow, it looks like shit, but it’s good.” 

The blue haired girl had never been so grateful for her friend. One look at her friends told her that even Mal and Carlos were feeling sorry for her for the amount of attention she was getting. She smiled at Jay, silently thanking him. He winked in return. 

“How’s your salad?” Mal asked quietly once everyone else was talking. Evie just shrugged. “Try this, it’s really good.” 

“That’s okay.” Evie tried, but Mal wouldn’t let it happen. She ripped what Evie would later find out is called pizza in half, handing part of it to her best friend.

“Just try.” 

Evie took a small bite and she couldn’t help but admit that it was good. She ate the rest of it, but as soon as she swallowed the last bite, she felt that familiar feeling that happened any time there was food in her stomach.

“Are you going to eat your pineapples?”

“No.” Evie’s voice was much quieter, and luckily, Mal knew to back off. She felt Mal grab her hand and scratch her fingernails gently up and down Evie’s arm, keeping her grounded. 

She completely tuned out of the conversation, so she was surprised when everyone started standing up. Mal let go of her hand, which caught her attention enough to see that the others were grabbing their trays and walking over to clean up. 

Chad hung back, falling into step beside Evie. “I’m serious about my offer. I would love to show you a good time.”

“Yeah, maybe someday.” Evie tried to smile, but it was already forced enough without also trying to hide the fact that she was on the verge of throwing up. She walked away from him, hurrying to catch up to Carlos. 

“You good?” he whispered after they both threw their trays away. 

“No.” Evie admitted. 

“Shit. Okay, let’s go.” Carlos grabbed her hand and dragged her away before anyone else noticed. They went into the girls’ bathroom and Carlos locked it behind them. 

Evie sank down on the floor, resting her forehead on her knees. “I can’t do this.”

“What’s going on?” he sat next to her. 

“The food.” She whimpered. 

“Try and explain it to me. How do you feel?”

“I’m full. I’m so fucking full that I feel like I’m going to explode.” Tears started to well up in her eyes and Evie bit her lip, trying her best to hold them back.

“Just breathe, Eves. Come here.” Carlos pulled her forward until her forehead was resting against his shoulder and she was nearly in his lap. “Take some deep breaths.” 

Evie was practically vibrating. She knew if she stuck her fingers down her throat, this would be over in a few minutes. How was she supposed to keep doing this every day, three times a day? There was no way she was going to survive. 

Their phones started to vibrate, but they ignored them. Carlos just kept her close, stroking her hair and whispering to her. He had always been good at calming her down. While Mal and Jay jumped to anger, Carlos’s first instinct was comfort. Of course, Mal was great at holding Evie and making her feel better, but she had a feeling she wouldn’t be babying her all that much when it came to the whole food thing. 

Carlos stood, pulling her up with him. He led her over to the sink and turned on the cold water. He stuck his hands under until they were cold, then pressed them to her cheeks. She groaned slightly at the relief of the coldness on her hot skin. She knew her makeup was probably washing off, but she couldn’t bring herself to care right now. 

“I love you, E.” he said. 

“Love you too.” She sighed and pulled away from him. She still felt too full, but she felt calmer. She grimaced when she saw her wet, pale face in the mirror. Luckily, she kept makeup in her purse. She dried her face off, then started to reapply. Carlos waited by her side without saying a word. 

Finally, after she felt collected enough, they walked out of the bathroom. “Where do you think they went?” she wondered. 

“Who cares? We’re going back to your room.” 

Evie just nodded her head. She hooked her arm through Carlos’s and let him lead her. She tried not to focus on everyone staring at her as she walked by, but she couldn’t help it. It made her skin itch. 

As soon as they got to the dorm, they saw Mal pacing around and Jay sitting on the bed. When they saw Carlos and Evie, they both jumped up. 

“What the fuck?” Mal nearly growled as she grabbed Evie’s shoulders, looking her over for any sign of damage. “Do you not know how to answer your phone?” 

“Not really.” Evie admitted. Ben had just given them phones when they left the health center that morning, so it’s not like she had time to play around with it.

“Did you throw up?” Mal demanded. 

“Back off, Mal.” Carlos said. Evie looked at him in surprise. It’s not like he was scared of Mal, but he wasn’t the type of person to stand up to someone who was more powerful than him. 

“What?” Mal asked. 

“You heard what I said. Back the fuck off.” 

“Alright, knock this shit off.” Jay interrupted. “We’re not going to start turning on each other. Mal, we get it, you’re pissed. Now take a few steps back.”

“Are you gonna make me?” she challenged. 

“Will you stop?!” Evie interrupted. “I’m not a child, Mal. I don’t need you to check up on me.”

“Clearly you do because it’s day one of being in Auradon and you’re already running off to throw up. I would think that you more than anyone would care about appearances here and trying to make sure we look normal so that we can do what we need to do. Maybe you got away with hurting yourself on the Isle, but there’s not a fucking chance in this world that I’m going to let you keep doing that shit.”

Evie had calmed down a little after sitting with Carlos in the bathroom, but any ounce of control she had was gone now. The tears spilled out of her eyes all on their own, no matter what she did to try and stop them. She knew Mal was trying to help her, but she was already uncomfortable and anxious and upset and she couldn’t handle all of that on top of her yelling. 

That’s when she felt the anger start to course through her body. Why couldn’t she just be normal? Why didn’t she just eat food like a normal person, or look in the mirror and not want to hurt herself? When would all of this stop?

\-----

Mal wasn’t really familiar with feeling guilty. On the Isle, she did what she had to do to survive and to keep her friends alive. She never felt guilty for something that she did to help herself because honestly, who else in this world would help her? Not her psychotic mom or deadbeat dad. 

But when Mal watched Evie’s entire face crumble, she felt nothing but guilt. The blue haired girl’s carefully maintained composure was gone as she stared at the floor, tears dripping off her chin. Carlos and Jay looked beyond uncomfortable, but she didn’t have time to feel that way. She needed to do something. 

“Hey.” Mal whispered, putting a hand on Evie’s cheek. She tried not to take it personally when she flinched. “Evie, look at me.” 

She waited a moment, but nothing happened. Mal slid her hand down so she could gently push Evie’s chin up. Her gaze stayed on the floor for a moment before she finally looked up. Mal felt a pain hit her in the chest at the sight of her watery chocolate brown eyes. She grabbed her hand and pulled her over to the bed, waiting until she sat down. She kneeled down in front of her and rested her hands on Evie’s thighs. 

“Evie, I’m sorry for jumping to conclusions. I didn’t mean to yell at you, I’m just so worried about you. I need to know that you’re okay and right now, I don’t think you are.”

“I didn’t throw up.” Evie choked out. “I wanted to, but I didn’t.” 

“I’m so proud of you.” Mal kissed the top of each of her hands. “There is nothing I love more in this world than you, and if you’re not here…”

“I’m here.” Evie interrupted. “I’m not gonna be better overnight, but I’m trying, okay? I promise I’m trying.” 

Mal couldn’t stop herself. She grabbed Evie’s arms, pulling her forward until she was sitting on the floor with Evie on her lap. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t expect you to just completely change in a day. I know that things have been hard and that you did what you had to do on the Isle. But I’m going to make sure you’re safe here. You don’t have to worry anymore, okay? I will do anything to keep you safe.” 

“I know.” Evie whimpered, burying her face in Mal’s neck. 

Mal sighed in relief. She knows how physical of a person Evie is, so showing affection like this means that she’s not as upset anymore. 

“I know you’re not a little kid who needs me to watch over you every second of the day, but I was so scared when I turned around and you and Carlos weren’t there. We didn’t know what happened, and then Jay and I started thinking that you were throwing up. Just next time, can you tell me where you’re going at least?” 

Evie’s voice was quiet when she spoke. “But I was gonna throw up.” 

Mal shut her eyes, trying to reign in her temper. “Why didn’t you?”

“Carlos.” 

The purple haired girl wasn’t sure she wanted to know the answer to her next question, but she asked anyway. “Do you still feel like you need to?” 

“Yes.” Evie answered with no hesitation. 

“Why do you feel like you need to throw up?” Jay barged into their conversation. Mal wanted to glare at him, but she was curious to know the answer. 

Evie kept her face buried in Mal’s neck as she spoke. “Because I’m fat.” 

Mal shook her head. “No, you’re not.” 

“That’s not what I mean.” Jay interrupted as he got up and moved over to sit across from the girls, Carlos joining him a second later. “Today, after dinner, what made you want to go to the bathroom? How were you feeling?”

“It’s hard to explain.” Evie sat up slightly, but she was still on Mal’s lap and holding her hand. She absentmindedly drew patterns on Mal’s palm as she spoke. “I get so full and then I need my stomach to be empty. The food is like a weight inside of my body and I can’t think about anything other than what I’ve been eating and how much better it would feel if it was gone.” 

“Can I ask something?” Carlos wondered. Evie shrugged. “Do you think part of the problem is you get anxious?” 

“Yeah.” Evie admitted. 

“When you’re eating, what makes you feel anxious? Besides, you know, the fact that you’re eating.” 

“I don’t like when people watch me.” Evie practically whispered. 

“Even I noticed today how much everyone was focusing on you.” Mal said as she kissed her temple. “We’ll try to do a better job with that, okay? I wouldn’t want a bunch of people staring at me while I’m eating either.” 

“It’s hard too because I don’t know what a lot of the foods are. If I’m going to eat, I at least want it to be healthy, but so many things here are new and I don’t know what to do.” 

“We’ll talk to Ben.” Mal promised. “It doesn’t seem like he would care to explain it to us.” She had no interest in speaking to the future king, but she would do anything to make sure Evie was healthy.

“Also…actually, never mind.” Evie started. 

“No, we want to hear it. Any time you want to talk about this stuff or you feel uncomfortable, you know you can talk to me, right?”

“And us.” Carlos added, pointing to himself and Jay. 

Evie took a deep breath, but then ended up laying her head back down on Mal’s shoulder. “I know you’re worried about me, but it doesn’t help when you question me. I don’t like being yelled at and it makes me feel like a little kid.” 

“I’m sorry.” Mal said. The boys were surprised; an apology from Mal was practically unheard of, and now they had heard her apologize three times within a few minutes. Evie, however, knew the other side of her girlfriend and she knew she was capable of admitting when she was wrong and trying to make it better. “Things are already rough and I overreacted. I’m sorry that I made things worse for you. I’m just so worried about you, baby. I want to help you, but I don’t know how.” 

“Maybe we can think of some ideas.” Carlos offered. “Evie, what can we do to help you?” 

Evie shrugged. “Can you build me a time machine so I can go back and not listen to my mother?” 

Carlos gave her a small smile at the joke, but Mal was not amused. She looked at Jay and saw an identical frown to her own; they were not going to give up on the subject at hand, no matter what jokes Evie tried to make.

“Do you feel like it would be easier to eat in the room instead of in the cafeteria?” Mal questioned. “Then it would just be us and you wouldn’t have to worry as much.” 

“M, don’t take this the wrong way, but sometimes you guys make me feel even more nervous. I know that I need some help with eating, but you all know my problems and I know you know what’s going on, so it’s hard to put my mind on something else. I’m just always so worried that you’re going to say I’m not eating enough or…”

“Hey, calm down.” Mal ran her fingers gently through Evie’s long blue curls. She could feel her start to shake, so she wrapped one arm tighter around her waist and the other stayed in her hair. “Don’t get upset. Honestly, I don’t know what to tell you. I can’t just flip a switch and stop worrying about you.”

“But we can back off a little.” Jay chimed in. “At least, until we are needed. You need to be upfront with us though, Eves. We don’t know that you need help unless you come and tell us. Otherwise, the only way we can tell is by questioning you.”

“We’ll work on trusting you if you work on being honest with us when you feel like you want to throw up.” Carlos compromised. 

Evie nodded. “Okay.” 

Mal used the hand she had in Evie’s hair to tilt her head up. “I love you.” She whispered, then pressed her lips against her girlfriend’s. Evie melted into her immediately. After a couple seconds, the boys started to groan. “You can go to your own room if you’re so disgusted, you know.” 

“Nah, we’d rather stay here.” Jay laid back on Mal’s bed, tucking his hands behind his head and crossing his ankles. “Come on, Evie. I’ll let you cuddle with me.” 

Evie scooted even closer to Mal, if that was possible. “I’m good.” 

Mal couldn’t help but laugh before kissing the tip of Evie’s nose. She was grateful that Evie was so small and that she was pretty strong because she was able to stand up, keeping her girlfriend in her arms, and then plop down on the bed. Evie slid her shoes off and then instantly cuddled into her chest. 

“Carlos, turn on a movie.” Jay whined. 

Carlos rolled his eyes, but did as he said. The four of them laid together, mindlessly watching the TV as they wondered what tomorrow would have in store for them.


	3. First Day

When Mal woke up in the morning, she was surprised to find that she was alone in bed. She pouted, not even bothering to open her eyes. 

“Evie?” she called out. “Evie!” 

“Will you shut up?” Jay grumbled from the other side of the room. 

“What’s wrong, M?” she heard the soft, soothing voice of her girlfriend and opened her eyes. She had clearly gotten up a while ago because her hair and makeup were flawless (though she was still dressed in only the t-shirt she had fallen asleep in). 

Mal didn’t speak, instead grabbing Evie’s arms and pulling her forward. She held her as close as she could and then sighed contently. 

Evie giggled. “It’s time to get up.” 

“Nope. I need a few more minutes.” Mal knew better than to run her fingers through Evie’s hair (even though she really wanted to). She settled instead on slipping her hands under Evie’s t-shirt and rubbing her back. 

She felt Evie settle against her and let out a happy sigh. Mal just smiled and continued working her magic. All four of them had tossed and turned the whole night, so she knew that a little extra rest wouldn’t hurt. 

“Seriously, M. It’s time to get up.” Evie insisted, pulling away. 

Mal groaned, but finally sat up. She looked over, seeing that Jay and Carlos were in her bed, both of them still passed out. “You wake up the idiots while I get ready.” 

Before Mal could get up, Evie grabbed her by the hem of her shirt. She pulled her over so she could plant a kiss on her lips. This time, Mal couldn’t resist and she put her hand on the back of Evie’s neck, sliding it up until she could feel blue hair in her grasp.

“Don’t touch.” Evie gasped as she moved away, waiting for Mal to untangle her hand from her hair. 

“You’re such a tease.” Mal complained before going into the bathroom. She peed, brushed her teeth and hair, and then came back into the room. She smiled at the sight of Evie laying on the bed, cuddled in between Jay and Carlos. Jay had both arms around her waist and Carlos was holding her hand. 

Mal went over and sat on top of their legs. “Nope. If I’m up, everyone is up.” 

Jay whined. “Do we actually have to go to school?”

“Yes.” Evie told him as she gently scratched his scalp. “Come on, let’s get it over with.” 

He finally rolled out of bed, but not before giving Evie a kiss on the forehead. Carlos joined him a second later, and both of them left the girls’ room to go to their own. Mal wondered where they would sleep tonight. She wasn’t sure if they had stayed because of Evie’s episode last night, or just because they wanted to stay together. 

She turned her attention back to her girlfriend and saw that Evie was now standing in front of the closet. They didn’t do any unpacking yesterday, but the closet was full of their clothes. 

“When did you do that?”

“This morning when I woke up. It’s always easier to see what you have if it’s laid out.” 

“What time did you wake up?”

“Mmmm, around five?” 

Mal grimaced. “Disgusting.” She came over to her and wrapped her arms around her waist from behind. She rested her chin on Evie’s shoulder. “I don’t want to hover, but how are you feeling?” 

“Nervous.” Evie admitted. “I don’t want to go to breakfast.”

“You know that’s not an option, right?” 

Evie sighed. “I know.” 

“But you don’t have to grab a lot. I’ll be happy if you just eat one solid thing, okay? I just want you to have something in your stomach.” 

“Okay.” 

Mal could tell she was done talking about it, so she changed the subject. “I have no clue what to wear.”

“I have an idea! You could do…” her statement had the desired effect as Evie started raving about possible outfits Mal could wear. She couldn’t help but smile at the way Evie’s eyes lit up and how her hands gestured wildly as she spoke. She leaned forward, backing the other girl into the closet door so she could kiss her properly. 

Evie kissed back for a few seconds, and then suddenly pushed her away. “No M! You’re going to ruin my lipstick.” 

Mal smirked. “Kind of the point.” She could see Evie’s hand practically itching to reach up and touch her lips. “Don’t worry, Princess. No smudges.” 

Evie sighed in relief. “If we’re going to pretend we’re not together, you really need to keep your lips to yourself.” 

Mal slid her hands up to touch Evie’s sides. “What about my hands?” 

“Those too!” Evie smacked her arm. “Be serious! We need to get dressed.” 

“Ugh, fine.” 

Mal watched as Evie walked over to one of the desks where she had already laid out her outfit for the day. She pulled her t-shirt over her head, leaving her in just a pair of underwear. She turned and caught her eye. 

“Stop staring!” her cheeks blushed instantly. 

“You’re just so fucking perfect.” Mal told her simply before going into the closet to grab some clothes. By the time she came out, Evie was ready to go. Mal changed quickly, pulling on her purple leather jacket as a final touch. 

“Ready?” 

For the first time, Mal noticed Evie was holding a backpack. “What is that?”

“It has school supplies in it. Ben sent us a message this morning and said each of us had one in our closets and that we need to bring them to class. Yours is at the bottom of your bed.” 

Mal picked it up in confusion. “But it’s blue.” 

“Thank you for the observation, M.” Evie joked. 

“I’m just saying, that’s your color. Don’t you want this one?” 

Evie turned around to show her the pink backpack that was currently on her back. “I figured you wouldn’t go anywhere with this one. Besides, I kind of like the idea of you walking around with my color on you.” 

Mal grabbed her hand and pulled her over, pressing a light kiss on her lips so she didn’t mess up her makeup. 

“Are you ready to do this?” 

“As ready as I’ll ever be.” 

The two girls walked out of the dorm room and to the cafeteria. They were able to find Carlos and Jay quickly since the two boys were sitting at a table alone with a mountain of food in front of them. 

“Let’s go through the line first.” Mal suggested. They went over to grab their breakfast. She could tell Evie was already struggling, but she wasn’t sure what to suggest other than fruit. 

“Hi!” they turned around slowly at the unfamiliar voice. A girl around their age with dark hair was smiling. “I’m Lonnie. You must be Mal and Evie.” 

“Hello.” Evie greeted, while Mal stayed silent. They both turned back towards the food. 

“Your friends really like to eat.” Lonnie stated. Mal was confused on why she was still behind them. Then, she realized she could use this to her advantage. 

“Yeah, we didn’t have a lot of this stuff on the Isle. It’s still kind of overwhelming trying to make a choice.” Evie could tell what she was doing instantly and glared, but Mal ignored her. “Any suggestions?” 

Mal hated being friendly. She hated asking for help, and she hated talking to strangers. But this was for Evie and she would do anything for the blue haired girl. 

“I usually go for a bagel and fruit, or maybe oatmeal.” She must have noticed their expressions. “Do you know what oatmeal is?” 

“Obviously.” Mal couldn’t help but let a little snark in. “But I’m not clear on the bagel.” 

“Right there.” Lonnie pointed towards what looked like a circular piece of bread. 

That was one thing Mal did know; bread was filling, and while she wanted Evie to eat enough, she also knew that would make her uncomfortable. 

“I was thinking something a little lighter.” 

“Try yogurt!” Lonnie reached forward and grabbed a little cup with a lid on it. “It’s really good if you add strawberries to it.” 

“What’s a strawberry?” 

Lonnie’s mouth fell open. “You have to try them.” She grabbed a bowl of red fruit and put it on Mal’s tray. “What about you, Evie? What are you gonna have?” 

“Same thing.” Evie responded with a tight smile, grabbing a cup of yogurt and some strawberries. “Thank you, Lonnie.” 

“Yeah, of course!” 

They walked away before she could say anything else. They went to the boys’ table and sat down, Evie next to Jay and Mal next to Carlos. 

Even if Evie wasn’t going to eat, that didn’t mean that Mal wouldn’t indulge. She studied the foods laid out on the table and reached out to grab a plate. 

“That’s mine!” Jay called out, his mouth still full of food. 

“Mine now.” Mal took a bite. “Mmmm, this is amazing. What is it?”

“A waffle. Isn’t it crazy how much food they have here? On the Isle, we literally have like five options.” 

“If they would send a quarter of this to the Isle, imagine how much healthier everyone would be.” Evie said. 

They were all silent for a moment, picking at their food as they considered the statement. Then, Jay started a conversation again. 

“What do you guys have?”

“Yogurt and strawberries.” Mal answered. She grabbed one of the strawberries and bit into it. Her eyes widened immediately and she let out an embarrassing moan, causing the other three to stare at her. “Holy shit.” She grabbed another one and took a bite. 

Evie couldn’t help but laugh. “Is it good?” 

“So good. Try it.” 

Mal could see Evie’s hesitance as she picked it up. She took a much smaller bite, but even she smiled after she chewed it. “They are pretty good.” 

“Lonnie said to put them in your yogurt.” Mal said, giving a look that she hoped conveyed to her girlfriend that it wasn’t optional. 

Evie sighed, but grabbed a knife and cut up a few strawberries, then put them into her cup of yogurt. She stirred it around as the others talked, but Mal still had half of her attention on her. She watched her out of the corner of her eye even though she was carrying on a conversation with Jay. She could see Evie take a bite, and it must not have been too bad, because she took another. 

Mal cut up strawberries to put in her own yogurt. It was good, and she was hoping that it was at least enough to give Evie some of the nutrients she desperately needed. 

“Good morning!” they all turned as Ben came over to their table. He had papers in his hand, and he passed out one to each of them. “These are your class schedules. We have seven classes in a day. I tried to pick some out based on your interests, and then there are some that are mandatory. Class starts at 9am Monday through Friday.” He turned to Carlos and Jay. “We’re having Tourney practice tomorrow, and I would like both of you to come, if you’re interested.” 

“Hey Benny-boo, can I ask a question?” Mal interrupted. 

He seemed unfazed by the nickname. “Of course!” 

“Is there some kind of food class or something? I hate to say it, but we need some guidance on what these foods are, and what is healthy.” 

“That’s something that Dr. Bren wants to talk to you all about.” 

Mal frowned. “You’re not locking us back up at that place.” She could feel Carlos grab her hand, and she saw the way Evie leaned slightly into Jay. 

“No, you won’t have to stay there. Did Dr. Williams not explain this to you?” he took a seat next to Jay, who scooted towards the other way, pushing Evie over as he moved. Ben didn’t mention it. “Instead of going to 7th period on a certain day of the week, you will go to the health center and talk with a therapist.” 

“What’s a therapist?” Carlos demanded. 

“A doctor who will teach you coping skills and help you work through any trouble you’re having adjusting to Auradon. It was one of the conditions of you being released from the health center and I’m sorry, but it’s not optional.” 

“Which day do we go?” Evie wondered. 

“You each go a different day of the week.” 

Mal frowned. “Wait, we aren’t going together?”

“No, therapy is an individualized thing. It’s specific to you and how you’re coping. I’m sorry, I thought Dr. Williams had explained this to you already.” 

“He didn’t really do a lot of explaining.” Evie mumbled. 

Mal was confused on why she made that comment, but she wasn’t going to ask her now. Unfortunately, the prince picked up on it. 

“What do you mean, Evie?” 

She glued on her fake smile. “Nothing, Prince Ben.” 

“If you weren’t treated fairly at the health center, then I would like to know so I can take care of it.” 

“What happened, E?” Jay prodded. Mal hated him for doing it, not wanting to expose a weakness to Ben. But maybe this would be a good test of his character; if Evie had been hurt, would he really do something about it? 

“Nothing bad, I promise.” She insisted, her eyes flying over to meet Mal’s as she spoke. “He just didn’t really explain anything he was doing. I didn’t like not knowing what was going on.” 

Ben nodded. “I’m sorry that happened. I can’t even imagine how nervous you must have been when he kept coming into your room for things and you weren’t sure what he wanted. I will have a serious conversation with him and try to fix this for the future.” 

“Thank you.” 

“Of course. Now, I’ll give you guys a couple minutes to look over your schedules. On them, it says the day of your therapy appointment. Carlos, yours is Monday, so that’ll be today. Mal is Tuesday, Evie is Wednesday, and Jay is Thursday. You each have a locker, and the number is on your schedule. If you have any major issues with your schedule, text me and let me know. Have a good first day!”

Evie said goodbye as he walked off. Once he was gone, she held out her hand and all three of them gave her their schedules. She was the best with planning and organization, so she could tell them quickly what they wanted to know. 

“1st period, we all have English.” She stated. “2nd period we’re all in different classes. Carlos and I have math together 3rd period, but you guys are alone, and then we’re back together in 4th period.” Evie scoffed. “Guess what class we have. Goodness 101.” 

Mal rolled her eyes. “I bet that’s a new one they added this year.” 

“5th period, you guys all have history. 6th period we’re separated again, and then 7th period Mal and Jay have math.” 

“So from 5th period on, you’re separated? I don’t like that.” Mal said with a frown. “They really tried hard not to keep us together.”

“I’ll be fine.” Evie reassured her. “I have a fashion design class, and something called study hall. You know I love studying.” 

Mal rolled her eyes affectionately. “Nerd.” 

“You have art, and magical control.” 

“Otherwise known as ‘contain yourself and don’t hurt any precious princesses’.” 

Carlos smirked. “That’s really ironic that you say that considering how much you protect your precious princess.” 

“Shut up.” 

“Jay, you have physical education, and Carlos has technology. At least Ben did try to incorporate our interests a little bit.” Evie handed back their schedules. “We better go if we don’t want to be late.” 

As they stood, Mal and Jay made eye contact. She gestured her head towards Evie, silently asking how much she ate. Jay subtly looked as they turned, then mouthed ‘half’ back to her. Mal knew it would have to be enough for now, but she would have to keep an eye on her. 

When they walked down the hallway, everyone scrambled to get out of their way. It was weird, but it made Mal feel like she was back home. 

The minute they went into the classroom, the atmosphere changed. The people who were already there turned to stare at them as they entered. Mal led the way, as always, finding a set of desks in the back of the classroom where they could sit next to each other. She and Evie took the ones in the front, and Jay and Carlos sat together in the row behind them. 

The teacher came in, and even he seemed stunned. Mal couldn’t help but sigh; this was going to be a long day. 

\-----

“Send me a picture of your schedule so I know where you are. If anything happens, text me and I’ll be there.” Mal whispered to Evie as they got ready to leave English. Last night, Carlos had played around with their phones for a while and he was able to teach them some basic things, like how to call and text and take pictures. It seemed like it was pretty easy, but it would just take some getting used to. 

Evie knew that to anyone else, Mal would sound like a controlling girlfriend. But she appreciated her concern and she knew that she only acted like this because she was worried. “I will. You do the same.” 

“Mmhmm. Want me to walk you?” 

“I’ve got it. Jay’s class is close, so I’ll go with him.” 

“Alright. Stay focused.” Mal squeezed her hand. 

“Have fun in art.” Evie replied as she squeezed back. She and Jay turned to walk the opposite way. 

“You gonna be good?”

“I wish you guys would stop hovering.” Evie told him. 

“Sorry, old habits. If it makes you feel any better, I gave Carlos pretty much the same talk Mal gave to you, and we’re not even dating.” 

Evie rolled her eyes. “We’re going to be fine. This is Auradon; what could happen?” 

“Anything.” Jay answered immediately. Evie just wrapped her arm around his and let him lead her. It was kind of funny to see the fear on everyone’s faces as they passed them. They hadn’t even done anything yet to show that they were evil. 

They got to Jay’s class first. “See you later.” She said, not giving him a chance to give her a big speech. She loved Mal and Jay, but they could be overprotective to the point of it being suffocating. 

Evie walked in and found a seat near the middle. She wasn’t thrilled about having her back open to an attack, but the whole back row was taken. She sat down and pulled out a pen and notebook, ready to take notes. 

“Hey gorgeous.” She turned her head, seeing that Chad Charming had sat down next to her. 

He kind of creeped her out, but at least he was a familiar face and he wasn’t running to the other side of the room to dodge her. “Hi, Chad.” 

“How’s your first day treating you?”

“So far, so good.” She gave him a small smile, then turned back to her notebook. She pulled her phone out and snapped a quick picture of her schedule, then sent it to Mal. 

_To: Mal  
Guess who is sitting next to me. _

_From: Mal  
Who???_

_To: Mal  
Chad. _

_From: Mal  
If he tries anything, stab him. I slipped a knife into your backpack at breakfast. _

_To: Mal  
MAL! _

_From: Mal  
Safety first, Princess. _

Evie rolled her eyes and put her phone back into her bag, catching a glimpse of the knife. She almost laughed, but everyone was already thinking the worst of her; she didn’t want them to think she was crazy too. 

“Class, we have a new student. This is Evie of the Isle. Evie, stand up.” Evie stood, smoothing out her skirt as all eyes turned to her. The middle aged man standing at the front of the room moved closer to her. “Tell me, what do you already know about Auradon’s history?” 

There was two ways she could play this. She could go the defensive route and make a comment about how they locked up innocent children; that’s the route that Mal, Jay, and probably even Carlos would take. Or she could try and be diplomatic. 

“I’ve heard some parts that are a little startling, but I believe there are two sides to every story and I’m excited to hear a different perspective.” 

The teacher stared at her. The classroom was so silent you could have heard a pin drop. Then, he turned and went back up to the board. “Open your books and turn to page 52.”

“Wow, sexy and smart.” Chad complimented with a grin. “I like that.” 

Evie didn’t respond. She looked at the clock- only 42 more minutes of this. She must have gotten lost in taking notes because when the bell rang, she jumped. She glanced around, hoping no one had noticed. She gathered all of her things and stood. 

“Where’s your next class?” Chad wondered. 

“Room 412.”

“Do you know how to get there?” 

“I’ll manage, thank you.”

“I can walk you. My class is right down the hall from there.” Chad slung his own backpack over his shoulder. “Come on.” 

Evie clenched her fist, digging her nails into the palm of her hand. The last place she wanted to be was with Chad, but she would let this play out. She couldn’t cause a scene, and at least she had math with Carlos, so he could help her if anything went down. 

“Have you tried ice cream yet?” Chad questioned. 

“No, I haven’t really had the chance.” 

“Maybe I could take you after class one day. You have to try it, it’s amazing.” 

“I’ll let you know.” She said with a tight smile. She didn’t know why he wasn’t getting the hint. 

Chad mostly talked about himself for the rest of the walk. Evie was lost in her own thoughts, so she just nodded at the appropriate times. She was relieved when they saw Carlos standing outside of a classroom door. As soon as his eyes met hers, he was moving forward. 

“Hey Eves.” He greeted, reaching out to grab her bag and stepping between them in the process. Carlos may be smaller than some guys and he wasn’t exactly intimidating, but Evie knew he would do anything to protect his friends. 

“See ya, Chad.” Evie stayed close to Carlos, ignoring Chad calling after her about getting ice cream. They went into the classroom and she let out a sigh of relief. 

“What was that about?” 

“He was in my last class and he insisted on walking me here.”

“Why didn’t you say no?”

“I did.” She sat down at a desk in the back row and Carlos took the one next to her. “You had study hall last period, right? What was that?”

“Basically a free period where you can catch up on homework or whatever. Since I didn’t have anything, I just played around on my phone. This thing is so cool…” Evie smiled at she listened to Carlos explain the technological aspects. She didn’t always understand, just like he didn’t always get what she was saying when she was talking about designing, but they respected each other and listened anyway. 

“Quiet!” 

Evie and Carlos jumped at the sudden noise. Evie cursed herself; she really needed to get that under control. The whole class stopped talking and stared towards the front. 

“Who are the Isle kids?” Nearly the whole class turned to stare at them, and Evie raised her hand. “My name is Mr. Reynolds. There will be no funny business in this class. If you even breathe in a way that I feel is threatening, I will send you to Fairy Godmother. Is that understood?” Evie and Carlos nodded. “Are you not able to speak?” 

“Yes, sir.” Evie answered, Carlos mumbling along with her. 

“Who knows what you have learned so far, so I’m sure you will be behind the rest of my class. Pull out your books and let’s go to page 77.” 

Evie and Carlos did as instructed. Evie was nervous until she saw the material. She glanced at Carlos and noticed the same relief on his face. They could do this in their sleep. 

The rest of class was basically a showdown between Mr. Reynolds and the VKs. He would call out a question, and then get angry when they knew the answer. He kept trying to trip them up, finding ways to complicate problem, but Evie and Carlos were easily two of the most intelligent people on the Isle. They had no doubt that they could adapt to the Auradon curriculum after what they had seen so far. 

The bell rang and they collected their things. After they stood, Mr. Reynolds called out to them. “I expect you both to be back here later for detention.” 

“What’s that?” Carlos questioned. 

His face got even redder, if that was possible. “Now you’re going to backtalk?” 

Evie stepped in. “He’s not trying to backtalk, sir. We really don’t know what detention is.” 

“What a surprise that you take on the role of being the nice and mature one. Do you think you can manipulate me? I know what people like your parents are capable of.” He looked at them both in disgust. “I expect you here at 4pm sharp. Next time, think twice about being disrespectful towards me.” 

Evie and Carlos walked out even more confused than they came in. They still weren’t completely clear on what detention was, and they didn’t understand what they had done wrong. Evie bit her lip anxiously as she recapped the class, trying to figure out what had happened. 

Mal and Jay were standing in the hallway outside of Goodness class, so they didn’t even have a second to try and change their expressions. As soon as Evie’s eyes met Mal’s, the purple haired girl was coming towards her. 

“What’s wrong?” she demanded, grabbing Evie’s chin gently in her hand and turning her face side to side, as if she was looking for a mark. She ran her thumb across Evie’s bottom lip, freeing it from her teeth. “Talk to me.” 

“We got detention?” she said the last word as more of a question, hoping Mal or Jay had more clarification. 

“What’s that?” Jay asked. 

“No clue.” Carlos answered. “Our teacher was mad though.” 

“Look how evil my girl is.” Mal smiled approvingly at Evie. “What did you do? Tell him off?” 

“We didn’t do anything.” 

Mal must have realized that Evie was upset about this because she tucked a piece of hair behind her ear. “Walk us through it.” 

Evie explained how Mr. Reynolds started off on the wrong foot as soon as he walked in, and that he had basically called them stupid, then kept calling on them throughout class and was mad that they knew the answers. Carlos picked up then, saying how he had given them detention and when they asked what it was, he called Evie manipulative and made a comment about their parents. 

By the end of the story, both Mal and Jay looked furious. “Which room was this in again?” Mal questioned. 

“Don’t.” Evie grabbed her hand. “We’re already in trouble, I don’t want you to do anything stupid.” 

“People don’t get to talk to you like that.” 

“I’m fine, M. Let’s just go before we’re late.” Evie and Mal walked into the classroom, their hands still joined. Carlos and Jay glanced at each other; at this rate, the girls weren’t going to last a week pretending that they weren’t together. 

“Hello, children!” Fairy Godmother greeted with a big smile. Evie knew she was kind of annoying, but she was grateful for how respectful she was towards them after the other experiences she had had so far. “How is your first day of classes going?”

“What’s detention?” Mal said immediately. 

Fairy Godmother’s smile fell a little. “You already got detention?”

“What is it?”

“When you don’t pay attention in class, or you don’t do your work, or you are disrespectful, your teacher may give you detention. That’s when you go back to that class at the end of the day and sit to think about your choices, and it’s a time for you to finish your work. It’s a punishment. Which teacher gave you detention?”

“It wasn’t her, it was Carlos and me.” Evie interrupted. 

“Which teacher, dear?”

“Mr. Reynolds.” 

Fairy Godmother just nodded. “Then you’ll have to go to Mr. Reynolds’ class at the end of the day.” 

“How is that fair?” Mal demanded. “They didn’t do any of the things you said. He was just mad because he thought they would be stupid and they aren’t.” 

“I don’t understand…”

Evie sighed. “It’s okay, we’ll go.” 

“Carlos can’t go.” Jay reminded them. “He has therapy or whatever today.”

“Well Evie isn’t going to go sit with some asshole who has it out for her on her own.” Mal stubbornly stated. 

“I’m not going to therapy.” Carlos interjected. “I’ll go to detention with Evie.” 

Fairy Godmother seemed confused as she stepped forward. “Therapy is not an option, Carlos. You have to go, and I will write an excuse to Mr. Reynolds for you. Mal, watch your language in this room or else you will serve a detention with me. Now what do you mean he has it out for Evie?” 

Evie turned to Mal, silently asking her not to say anything. She didn’t want to make this a bigger deal than it needed to be. “I guess we really do need this Goodness class after all. Can we get started?”

Fairy Godmother hesitated for a second before sighing in defeat and moving on. Mal and Evie were sitting at the same table, meaning now she was free to reach over and grab her girlfriend’s hand. She drew patterns on the top of it with her thumb, trying to calm her down. 

Luck was not on Evie’s side because after Goodness class, they had lunch. Breakfast had been okay; she hadn’t eaten much, but the yogurt and strawberries did taste good, and it didn’t sit too heavy in her stomach. She knew she wasn’t going to be as lucky this time. 

“I can’t do it.” Evie whispered as they walked into the cafeteria. 

“I’m sorry, E, but you have to.” Mal tugged on her hand gently, pulling her further into the room. 

Evie looked at the boys pleadingly. “I’m being honest.” She said. 

They both got what she was trying to say right away. Jay put an arm out to stop Mal from walking any further. She turned to look at them in confusion. 

“Stop and listen to her.” Jay scolded. 

“What’s up, E?” Carlos questioned. 

“I can’t eat right now. I know I’m supposed to and I know that I said I would do better. My stomach is already bubbly, I can’t add food to it too.” 

Mal frowned. “What do you mean ‘bubbly’?” 

Evie hated to acknowledge her feelings. She wasn’t the type of person to make things about herself, and any time someone asked her a personal question, she usually found a way to turn it back around and make it about them. Of course she trusted her three friends more than anyone else in the world, but even talking to them about this was difficult. 

She met Carlos’s eyes, knowing he was probably the most understanding about this whole thing. “Today has been hard.” 

Carlos nodded. “It has been. It’s going to take some getting used to, huh?” 

Evie sighed. “If I eat, I’m going to throw up.” 

“I know.” He grabbed her hand and squeezed it gently. “How about some juice?” 

Even that didn’t sound great, but she had to give in somewhere. “Okay.” 

“Okay, let’s go.” He smiled and pulled her over towards the drink machine. 

Now that they were alone, she bit her lip. “Mal is going to yell at me.” 

“No she’s not.”

She glanced over her shoulder. “She looks pissed.” 

“She won’t yell at you, but I probably won’t be as lucky.” Carlos handed her a cup. “I’m proud of you, Evie. I know that you’re feeling anxious about the detention and everything. I’m glad you told us.” 

“Thank you for listening to me.” 

“Of course.” He led her over to a table. “Why don’t you wait here and I’ll be back in a second?” 

“Okay.” 

Evie hated the idea of sitting alone. The last thing she wanted was to have anyone watching her, wondering why she was in the cafeteria with only a cup of juice. What if they asked why she wasn’t eating? 

A tray was put onto the table next to her and she jumped (she seriously needed to get that under control). Mal sat down and just stared at her for a couple seconds. 

“I don’t like it, but I get it, okay? I know you’re already upset about how the day has been going and it’s not good to put more stress on you on top of that. I don’t know how to handle this. I don’t know when to push you and when to back off. It’s going to take me some time to learn.” 

“Thank you, M. For caring enough about me to try and push me. I-I’ll try at dinner, okay?” 

“That would make me so happy.” Mal grabbed her hand. She looked around, seeing that no one was watching, and pressed a quick kiss to the top of it. 

“Alright, time to talk about that.” Of course Jay popped up out of nowhere, setting his tray down across from Evie. Carlos joined them a few seconds later. “You two are way too touchy.” 

Mal raised an eyebrow. “Your point?” 

“Look around. Do you see any girls kissing, or guys touching each other? I would bet my entire morning haul that these people are homophobes.” 

Evie frowned. “What do you mean ‘morning haul’?” 

Jay smirked and opened his bag, showing them what he had stolen. “If they’re going to be assholes, they at least owe us a little something in return.” 

“No.” Carlos interrupted. “You guys need to chill. No stealing,” he gave Jay a stern look, then turned to the girls, “and no touching. We can’t have our cover blown just because you two can’t keep it in your pants.” 

“We’re not even doing anything!” Mal protested. 

“The hand holding, the longing stares, the hand kisses, whispering to each other.” Jay listed. “Those aren’t Auradon things.” 

“Neither am I.” Mal snapped. 

“Okay.” Evie stepped in. “We get it. Sorry, I don’t think we even realized we were doing it. We’re focused.” 

Before another word could be said, Evie felt a presence behind her. She knew Mal must have too because she whipped around, sending her arm flying towards whoever it was. 

“Mal!” Evie called out, reaching out and catching her arm just before it hit Chad. She turned around to see the terrified look on the prince’s face. “Sorry about that, we don’t like people coming up behind us.” 

“No problem, beautiful.” He grinned as he came around to the table. He sat down next to Jay, causing both boys to frown and scoot further away. These people had no concept for personal space, apparently. “Now, about the ice cream. Are you free this weekend?” he laughed. “Of course you’re free. What do you say?” 

“Actually, she’s busy.” Mal chimed in, staring at her food with more interest than the boy. She looked at him with a bored expression. “You can go now.” 

“I’m speaking to Evie.” Chad told her, then looked back at her.

“This weekend isn’t a good time. Thank you for the offer.” Her friends could tell how fake her smile was, but it was obvious that Chad was charmed. 

“Oh, playing hard to get?” he stood with a grin. “I like that. I’ll figure out a way to get you to agree, sweetheart.” He walked away. 

As soon as he was gone, Evie grimaced. “God, he makes my skin crawl.” 

“Why don’t you just shut him down?” Carlos wondered. 

“I have! Every time I say no, he doesn’t take the hint. He’s completely oblivious.” 

“Maybe you should take him up on his offer.” Jay suggested, causing three other heads to whip his direction. “What? E, your mom groomed you for your whole life to find a ‘perfect prince’. It would help keep up appearances, and it might distract from how touchy you guys are.” 

Carlos shrugged. “It’s not a bad idea.” 

“No.” Mal said with so much finality the boys knew not to bring it up again. “Evie will not be pretending to be in a relationship.” 

Everyone got back to their lunch as conversation moved on to what they had left to do for the rest of the day. As usual, Mal’s hand linked with Evie’s underneath the table and away from prying eyes. Evie must have been squeezing because suddenly, Mal’s hand moved away from her own, going instead to her wrist. She pressed down gently and Evie snapped back to the conversation, letting out a sigh. 

“It’s okay.” Mal told her. “The rest of the day will be fine.” 

“I’m gonna be by myself.” Evie said quietly. 

“You’ll be okay, Princess. You’ve got this. Fashion will be fun, and you love chemistry. From what it sounds like, study hall is easy. You’ve got this.” The bell rang, and Mal must have noticed the way she jumped. “You’ll get used to that.” 

They all stood to throw their food away. Mal, Jay, and Carlos had to go one way, while Evie went the opposite. 

“Want us to walk you?” Jay offered. 

“No, I’ll be okay.” Evie tried to give a reassuring smile, but she was sure it looked more like a grimace. She walked down the hallway alone and was able to quickly find her fashion design class. 

She didn’t recognize anyone, which she was kind of relieved about. Luckily, the teacher was nice and the material was interesting. She found herself kind of sad when the bell rang to signal it was time to go to the next class. 

She took a seat in chemistry, holding in a groan when she saw Chad walk in the door. He spotted her and smiled, then came over. But before he could sit next to her, a scrawny guy in glasses took the empty seat. 

“You’re Evie, right?” he asked. “I’m Doug, son of Dopey.” 

“Nice to meet you.” She said. Of course this guy would be connected to her mother’s story. She could only imagine what he thought about her. 

“You’re not falling all over Chad.” He whispered a few minutes into class. 

She looked at him in confusion. “Huh?”

“He hasn’t stopped staring at you, but you’ve barely even looked his way. Normally, all the girls are kneeling at his feet.” 

Evie scoffed. “Yeah, not happening.” 

“You’re different than I thought you would be.” 

She wasn’t sure how to respond to that, so she just stayed quiet. When their teacher told them they would need a lab partner for tomorrow, Doug quickly volunteered to be Evie’s. She was happy about that because at least she wouldn’t have to be with Chad. 

“Where’s your next class?” Doug questioned as she gathered her books.

“It’s study hall.” 

“Do you know where to go?” 

“I can find it.” 

“It’s not far. Just take a right, go down the stairs, and it’s on the left.” 

Evie smiled. “Thank you, Doug. See you tomorrow.” 

“See ya.” He smiled and waved before heading in the opposite direction. 

Evie moved quickly, hoping that she would be able to avoid Chad. She followed Doug’s directions and walked into study hall. 

She spent the next 45 minutes getting her English and math homework out of the way. As the time ticked, she felt herself getting more and more nervous. She really didn’t want   
to go to detention. All she could think about was the way the older men acted on the Isle, and how the teachers punished the students…

The bell rang and she nearly dropped her book from how hard she jumped. She dug her fingernails into her hand, cursing herself for getting lost in thought and not paying attention so that she could time her reaction. She shoved her books into her bag quickly so she wouldn’t be late; if Mr. Reynolds already didn’t like her, she didn’t want to give him even more of a reason. 

When she walked back into his classroom, she was surprised to see Mal and Jay sitting there. Mal had her feet propped up on a desk, and Jay was a few rows ahead of her tapping on his math book. 

“Hey Princess.” Mal greeted. 

“No talking in detention!” Mr. Reynolds called out. He looked even more flustered now than during Evie and Carlos’s class. She realized that her friends must have done something to get into trouble. “Well? Are you waiting on a formal invitation? Sit down!” 

All amusement drained from Mal’s face and she stood up. “Don’t talk to her like that.” 

He raised an eyebrow. “Are you threatening me?” 

“No, but that might change if you’re going to disrespect her.” 

“Mal, sit down.” Evie told her as she walked over and sat next to her. 

“Find a different seat. You can’t sit next to each other.” 

“Maybe you should have explained that to her instead of just telling her to sit down.” Mal continued to sass. 

“If you don’t stop talking, you’re going to earn yourself a detention for tomorrow too.” 

Evie moved a few seats over from Mal and looked at her, trying to communicate that she needed to shut up. Mal was still smirking, but she did finally sit down. 

Since she had some extra time, Evie pulled out her chemistry book and got to work on that. She was lost in her own little world until her phone vibrated. She checked it carefully so Mr. Reynolds wouldn’t see. 

_From: Mal  
You’re so hot when you’re being smart _

_From: Mal  
Seriously, how am I so lucky? My girl is gorgeous and has a brain_

_To: Mal  
You’re ridiculous _

_To: Mal  
Can we take a nap after this? _

_From: Mal  
There’s nothing I would rather do _

Evie could help but smile. She put her phone back into her bag, hoping to stay out of trouble. She finished her homework and then let her mind wander for the remainder of the hour. She hoped that Carlos was doing okay at his therapy appointment. 

“Go.” Mr. Reynolds commanded after the time was up. “If you continue with your behavior, you’ll find yourself in these seats again.” 

They stood without a word and left the room. Evie looked at her friends in amusement. “What did you do?” 

“It didn’t take much.” Jay responded. “You guys were right; he does have it out for the VKs.” 

“Besides, did you really think I was going to let you outshine me? I’m supposed to be the wicked one.” Mal joked. 

Evie laughed. “I’m glad you were there with me.” 

“If anyone gives you detention, they better expect all four of us. You’re not going alone.” Mal insisted. “I don’t care what I have to say or do.” 

“What are we doing now?” Jay wondered. 

“It’s nap time.” Mal announced. “You can come to our room if you want and we can wait for Carlos.” 

“Okay.” 

As soon as they walked through the door of the girls’ dorm, they dropped their backpacks on the ground. Immediately after, Mal pulled Evie towards her and planted a kiss on her forehead, then cheeks, then nose, and then her lips. 

“I’ve been waiting to kiss you all day. It’s not fair how perfect you are.” She kissed her again. 

“God, if you’re gonna do this, I’m going to my room.” Jay complained, but laid on Mal’s bed anyway. 

Evie held onto Mal’s arm with one hand as she pulled her shoes off with the other. She took off her leather jacket and wiggled out of her skirt, leaving her just in leggings and her shirt. She crawled into her bed, then looked over to see that Mal was still standing near the door with her phone in her hand. 

“Mal.” She whined. “Nap time, remember?” 

“Sorry, baby. I was sending Carlos a message.” She took her shoes off and then got into bed. She held open her arms and Evie curled into them, resting her head on her chest and a hand on her stomach. One of Mal’s hands played with Evie’s hair while the other rubbed up and down her arm gently. 

Evie sighed, relaxing into her girlfriend. It had been a long, tiring first day and she was happy to finally lay down. She was nearly asleep when she heard the door open. Her eyes fluttered open. 

“It’s just Carlos.” Mal whispered soothingly. Evie relaxed into her again. “You wanna talk about it, C?”

“Not now.” Evie heard Mal’s bed creak under his weight and figured that he had laid in bed next to Jay.

The last thing Evie remembered was Mal pressing a kiss to her forehead, and then she fell asleep.


	4. In Private

Mal was the first one to wake up, unsurprisingly. Jay could sleep through anything, and as long as Evie was being cuddled and felt safe, she could too. Normally Carlos was a light sleeper, but it was obvious the whole therapy thing had taken a toll on him. 

She stared down at her girlfriend’s face and was glad to see that she looked peaceful. She knew Evie was struggling with being in Auradon and she was determined to help her adjust. But for now, she would just hold her and love on her until it was time to go to dinner. 

After a little while, she started hearing movement from the other bed. She glanced over, wondering which one of the boys was waking up. She was surprised to see that it was Jay. 

“Hey.” He whispered in greeting as he ran his hand through his hair. “She asleep?” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal said quietly, worried that if she was any louder she would wake Evie up. “How’s Carlos?” 

“Sleeping, so that’s good at least. You saw his face when he walked in. Whatever happened wasn’t good.” Jay sat up. “I think it’s probably better for both of them if we just stay in here. Want me to go grab dinner?” 

“Good idea.” Mal agreed. “I know it’s hard, but please try and find something that Evie will eat. Something smaller, and at least grab some pineapples or maybe even strawberries in case I can’t get her to eat anything else.” 

“I’ll find something.” Jay slid his shoes on and walked out the door. 

Mal started to run her fingers through Evie’s hair gently. She felt her nuzzle closer to her neck and couldn’t help but smile. 

“So perfect.” She whispered before kissing her cheek. “You deserve everything in this world, my Princess. I will spend the rest of my life trying to give it to you.”

A couple minutes later, Jay came in with a plastic bag. “They just let me fill up to-go boxes. Can you believe that?” 

“These people are so careless with their food.” Mal stated. 

Jay went over and sat next to Carlos. “Get up, C. I got dinner.” He shook his shoulder. 

Carlos groaned, but jumped awake after a second, sitting up quickly. It was kind of startling how abruptly he always woke up. 

“Dinner.” Jay repeated, holding up the bag in his hand. 

“Okay.” Carlos rubbed his hands over his face, then went into the bathroom. 

“You gonna get her up?” Jay wondered. 

Mal hated that she had to do this. This was the most peaceful Evie had looked since they left the Isle, and she would have to wake her and then force her to eat. She almost wanted to let her sleep, but she knew that wasn’t what was best for her. 

Mal sighed and started to tickle Evie’s sides. She ran her fingers up and down her ribs, digging in a little harder at the places she knew she was sensitive. Evie nuzzled into her again, letting out a tiny moan. 

Mal flipped their bodies so she could hover over the taller girl. “Time to wake up, baby.” She said, pressing kisses on her face.

Evie groaned. “Nooo.” She tried to push Mal away. Mal trailed her kisses lower, planting them on her jaw and neck. “You’re not being fair.” 

“You have to wake up.” Mal finally kissed a path from her neck up to her lips. Evie responded immediately, wrapping her arms around Mal’s waist and pulling her down until she was flush against her. 

“Um, we’re still here.” Carlos reminded them. 

Mal smiled against Evie’s lips. She kissed her one last time and then sat up, pulling her girlfriend with her. 

“I got us dinner.” Jay told her. “You get first pick, E.” 

Instantly, any trace of a smile was gone from Evie’s face. Mal felt her stomach twist as she saw the discomfort on the blue haired girl’s face. Evie just sighed and stood up, going over to Mal’s desk where Jay had laid out the food.

“The special today is fried chicken and French fries, but I didn’t know if you would want that or not, so I grabbed some other stuff.”

Mal could see the slight tremble in Evie’s hands as she reached out to grab something. “What’s this?” she asked, turning to show the others a small bowl with something orange in it. 

“It’s called macaroni and cheese. Everyone was talking about how good it is.” 

Evie took that and a cup of pineapples and then sat on the floor. Mal grabbed something next, and then the boys took whatever was left. For the first time that day, they all relaxed and just laughed and talked to each other. Mal noticed that now that they were having fun, Evie didn’t seem as upset with having to eat. Maybe the key to all of this was trying to separate eating from the other negative stuff in their lives. 

“You ready to talk, C?” Jay wondered. 

Mal could see the frown on Carlos’s features, and she noticed immediately the way that Evie tensed up. “Not yet. Let’s just enjoy this, okay?” 

“Okay.” Carlos and Evie responded quickly. Even Jay nodded his head.

“Is that good?” Carlos asked Evie, nodding towards the macaroni and cheese. 

“Try it.” She got some on her fork and leaned over so she could feed it to him. 

“That’s good!” Carlos said with a smile. “Wanna try my mashed potatoes? They’re really good.” Evie looked hesitant. “You don’t have to.”

“Just a little bite.” She gave in. Mal almost died in shock when Evie actually let him feed her a bite. “They are pretty good.” 

Mal couldn’t resist. She grabbed Evie’s arm and pulled her over so she could kiss her. “I know this is hard, and I’m so proud of you. You’re so fucking amazing.” She mumbled against her lips, kissing her between words. 

Evie giggled. Her cheeks were flushed from blushing, but she didn’t say anything. She continued taking small bites of her food, eating both the macaroni and the pineapples. She didn’t eat as much as the other three, but it was progress and Mal was happy. 

“Let’s mess with some of this stuff.” Jay said. He went over to where the TV was hooked up and pressed a button. Ben had given them a quick explanation of how to work the TV, and mentioned something about video games, but they hadn’t tried to figure it out until now. 

Carlos joined him a second later. Mal glanced over at Evie, who just laid down until her head was in Mal’s lap. The purple haired girl was perfectly fine with that, but she had other ideas. 

“Do you wanna take a shower?” 

They had showered at the health clinic, but they had yet to try their dorm room shower. Evie nodded her head and sat up. Mal stood, then reached her hand down to help pull her up. 

“We’re gonna shower.” Mal called out to the boys. They hummed in response as Jay pressed buttons and Carlos read directions. 

Mal leaned into the shower and looked at the different knobs. On the Isle, it was rare to get to wash your entire body at once. There wasn’t enough clean water to go around, and even if it was clean, it was freezing cold. The shower at the health center had been confusing, to say the least. She had kept her old underwear and a t-shirt on there so she wouldn’t be vulnerable in case anything happened, but now that she was in her dorm with Evie and with the boys right outside, she felt a little more comfortable with getting naked. 

Mal turned the handle and felt the warm water on her hand immediately. “These people don’t realize how fortunate they are.” 

“If they sent some of this water to the Isle instead of wasting it, it would make such a big difference.” Evie agreed. She pulled off her shirt and her leggings, leaving her in just a bra and underwear. 

“Is this new?” Mal wondered, reaching out to touch the royal blue strap. 

Evie nodded. “I made it before we left.” 

“Pretty.” Mal said, but now her hand was stroking Evie’s cheek. “Are you going to take it off?”

“Are you going to take anything off?” Evie countered, noting that Mal was still fully dressed. 

Mal held eye contact as she took off her clothes. She was still a little nervous, but she hooked her fingers in the sides of her underwear and let them drop. Now that Mal was naked, Evie had no choice but to completely strip. 

Mal led the way into the shower, Evie joining her a second later. They huddled together under the warm water. Evie smirked as Mal’s hands started to wander down her sides. 

“I wouldn’t want you to be cold.” Mal told her. 

“I bet you can find ways to make me warm.” 

Mal studied her girlfriend and it struck her (not for the first time) how beautiful she is. Evie’s hair was wet and matted down and her makeup was running, but Mal wouldn’t ever choose anyone else. This beautiful, intelligent, perfect human in front of her was hers and she couldn’t be prouder. 

Mal pressed their lips together. It was wet and messy, but she just stuck her hands in Evie’s hair and held her still. She turned their bodies so she could lean Evie against the wall. The blue haired girl shivered as her back came into contact with the cold tiles. 

They pulled apart and rested their foreheads together as they caught their breath. Mal kept her eyes locked on Evie’s, watching as her eyes darkened. She kissed Evie’s forehead, then her lips, biting the bottom one until she heard a groan. Mal trailed her kisses across Evie’s jaw, then leaned down to start kissing her neck. Her lips attached to her pulse point and she sucked harshly. 

“No hickeys.” Evie warned as she gripped Mal’s hair. Mal moved down to her collarbone and kissed there instead. “No _visible_ hickeys.” Evie corrected.

“Mine.” Mal mumbled against her skin. 

Evie let out a quiet moan. “Show me I’m yours.” 

\-----

After a long, hot shower, Evie and Mal wrapped themselves in fluffy white towels and went back into the room. Jay and Carlos were staring at the screen, each with a controller in their hand. 

“Those bathroom walls are thin, you know.” Jay commented. “And Evie, you are _loud_.” 

Evie felt her cheeks heat up. Mal jumped in. “You can always go to your own room.” 

“Why would we do that when we could have a front row ticket to the show?” 

Evie just shook her head as their banter continued and went into the closet. She opened her drawer and pulled out a pair of panties, then grabbed one of Mal’s sweatshirts. She put them both on and brought the purple sweatshirt up to her nose, smiling at how it smelled like her girlfriend. She turned around and went back into the craziness. 

“…and go get dressed instead of stealing my game!” Jay was shouting. 

Mal was still wrapped in her towel and she stood directly in front of Jay’s view of the TV with a controller in her hand. 

“M, quit bothering them and get dressed.” Evie chastised. 

Mal turned to look at her and she watched as her eyes lit up when she saw what she was wearing. She passed the controller back to Jay and came over to her. She grabbed Evie’s cheeks in her hands and leaned forward to kiss her. 

“You look great in my shirt.” Mal whispered against her lips. 

Evie smiled. She knew exactly how her girlfriend felt about her wearing her clothes. She melted into her, letting Mal kiss her lips, her cheek, her nose, her forehead…

“Ugh, they’re gonna go for round two right in front of us.” Jay announced loudly. Carlos rolled his eyes, but otherwise didn’t speak. 

“You mean round three?” Mal asked him with an evil smirk. Jay started to fake gag. 

“Go get dressed.” Evie said with a laugh as she shoved Mal in the direction of the closet. She went over to the couch and sat next to Carlos. She leaned against his side and put her hand on his knee. 

She could tell that therapy had been tough, but she knew better than to ask. If he wasn’t ready to talk, she wasn’t going to push him, just like he never pushed her when she had something going on. She knew Jay and Mal probably wouldn’t let him stay quiet, but she was in no position to force anyone to talk about their demons. 

“You ready to talk about it, C?” Jay asked predictably. 

Carlos groaned, so Evie sent him a reassuring smile and squeezed his knee. He wrapped his arm around her shoulder and pulled her into him. 

“It wasn’t fun having a stranger poke and prod to find out your deepest, darkest secrets.” He confessed. 

Mal came over to join them, now completely dressed. Carlos, Evie, and Jay were squeezed on the couch, so Mal sat on the table in front of it so she was across from Evie and Carlos. “Walk us through it.” 

“I went to the health center, which was already shitty since they had us locked up there for three days. They took me to the room with this lady, her name is Dr. Bren. She sat me down and started asking questions, you know, my name, how old I am, who my parents are.” Evie could tell he was getting agitated; his arms tightened around her and his hands started to play with the ends of her hair. “Then it was all about the Isle and where I lived, if I went to school, who my friends are. I don’t know, it just gave me a bad vibe.”

“Did you answer the questions?” Evie wondered. 

“Some. I didn’t want to be too specific though. I don’t want to give her a weakness.” 

“That’s smart, Carlos.” Mal praised. “We can let them talk to us and ask us whatever, but we need to stay focused. We’re not going to go spilling our business to these people.” 

“Who’s up tomorrow?” Jay asked. 

“Mal.” Evie answered, having already memorized their schedules. She studied her girlfriend. “You gonna be good?” 

Mal scoffed. “I’ve dealt with Maleficent for sixteen years. I think I can handle some preppy Auradon doctor.”

“Anything else you wanna tell us, C?” Evie said. 

“No, that’s pretty much it.”

“Then let’s get back to the game.” Jay passed a controller to Mal. “You want one, E?” 

“No, I’m gonna sketch.” 

They shifted their positions around. Jay and Carlos each took an end of the couch, while Mal sat on the floor with Evie between her legs. The blue haired girl had her back leaned against Mal’s chest and her head resting on her shoulder. 

She grabbed her sketch book and flipped through until she found an empty page. So many ideas had been swirling through her mind ever since she got her first look at Auradon fashions, and she hadn’t had the time to draw any of them out. She got lost in the gentle scratch of her pencil against the paper. 

“YES!” Evie jumped at the loudness of Mal’s voice. Apparently, she had killed Jay’s character. “Sorry, baby.” She apologized for scaring her, then kissed Evie’s temple. “Rematch?” 

They got started on a new game, Evie again returning to her sketching. She could picture a new jacket for Carlos, a pair of pants for Jay, a dress for Mal if she would ever give in and actually wear one…

Someone knocked on the dorm room door. They all ignored it, hoping that one of the others would answer it. Finally, Carlos sighed and went over, pulling the door open. 

“Hey guys!” 

All their heads swiveled at the unfamiliar voice. Evie felt something hit her arm and she looked over, noticing the way Jay was motioning towards her- she was still sitting between Mal’s legs. She tried to subtly move so that they were next to each other instead. 

“I’m Lonnie, I met you in the cafeteria.” She stated as she walked further into the room.

“What are you doing here?” Mal cut straight to the point, clearly not enjoying the fact that their night had been interrupted. 

“I just wanted to invite you to a movie night tomorrow. We’re doing it out in the courtyard and I thought maybe you would be interested.” 

“We’re not.” Mal said. Evie pinched her arm, making her grit her teeth. “We’ve been working so hard to adjust to everything and make sure we’re getting our homework done, so tomorrow isn’t really a good time.” 

“Oh, okay. The offer still stands if you change your mind!” Lonnie turned her attention to Evie and eyes suddenly grew. “Oh my God!” 

“What?” Evie asked. Then she realized that she was only in a pair of underwear and a sweatshirt. Was showing this much skin to your friends weird in Auradon? She also hadn’t brushed her hair yet, or moisturized, or…

“Did you draw that?” Lonnie pointed towards her sketch book. 

“Um, yeah.” She said nervously. Warmth hit her legs and she looked down, seeing that Mal had thrown a blanket over her lap. 

“That’s amazing! Do you make clothes too? Do you think you could make something like that for me?” 

Lonnie’s excitement actually made Evie smile a little bit. But before she could speak, Mal interrupted. “Why would she do that?” 

“Because I’ll pay for it.” 

“Done.” Evie confirmed. “We can meet up tomorrow and talk details.” 

“Awesome! Thank you, Evie!” Lonnie smiled and waved at the others. “See you guys tomorrow!” 

She left the room and Carlos shut and locked the door behind her. “What the fuck.” He mumbled. 

“Why isn’t she scared of us? Why did she just come strolling in like she owned the place?” Mal added with a frown. 

“Maybe she’s just a nice person.” Evie suggested. “Maybe she realizes that we’re not defined by our parents’ actions.” 

“Why did you agree to make something for her?” Jay wondered. 

“Because we’re going to need some type of income. Do you want to have to ask Ben for money?” 

“Evie has a point.” Mal acknowledged. “But I don’t want you meeting up with Lonnie on your own. I don’t care if she is a nice person. I don’t trust any of these people.”

“I’ll go with her.” Carlos offered. 

“It’s settled then.” Evie said with a smile, hoping Mal would drop it. She knew Carlos was probably Mal’s last choice on who should accompany her, but she wasn’t going to say that straight to the boy’s face. “Are you guys gonna get back to your game?” 

They all shifted back into their original positions. Evie’s mind was overflowing with ideas as she imagined different clothing items that would work for Lonnie. Eventually, her eyes started drifting shut, but she blinked hard to try and wake herself back up. She really wanted to finish these sketches before tomorrow, but her eyes shut again and her head lolled back against Mal’s chest. 

“Game’s over.” Mal announced as she turned the video game off with her controller.

“What the hell!?” Jay shouted. “We were almost done! Why did you quit?”

“Evie’s tired.” Mal said as if it was the simplest thing in the world. Honestly to her, it probably was. Evie was no stranger to her girlfriend’s love and dedication to her; she just hoped she knew that she felt the same way. “Come on, Princess. Up.” 

Evie sighed, but gave in. She stood, then held out a hand to help Mal up. The shorter girl leaned up on her toes so she could press a kiss to Evie’s forehead, then nose. She laughed quietly when it made her nose do the scrunchie thing that Evie knew she loved. 

“Are you guys staying here again?” Mal wondered. 

“Yep.” Jay stated. “I call dibs on the shower.” 

Carlos nodded. “I’ll go after.” 

“Hopefully the thing isn’t contaminated.” Jay joked, laughing when both Mal and Evie flipped him off. He went to the bathroom and shut the door. 

Mal sat down on Evie’s bed, while Carlos laid on the couch, his eyes glued to his phone screen. Evie grabbed her brush and then came over to her girlfriend. She silently held out the brush and then sat down on the floor.

Mal began to run the brush through the tangles in her hair. She worked gently, trying not to pull too much. “Your hair is so long.” Mal commented. It wasn’t the first time; she was obsessed with the long blue locks. “You smell different though.”

Evie knew what she meant. Back on the Isle, she had made her own hair products and soaps out of whatever materials she could find. Today, she had used the stuff that was already put in the bathroom for them. 

“I know, I need to work on some soaps.” Evie agreed. Mal finished up on her hair, signaling she was done in the same way she always did- kissing the top of her head. She stood and turned around to kiss her. “Thank you.” 

“Mmhmm.”

Evie took the brush and then ran it through Mal’s hair. It wasn’t nearly as long or thick, so she got done quickly. After she finished, Mal laid down on the bed, wiggling until she could prop her back up against the pillows. Evie swung her legs over her waist so she could straddle her lap. 

“How was your first day?” Mal asked, running her hands up and down Evie’s bare legs. 

Evie shrugged. “I survived. What about you?”

“Not as bad as I thought it would be, honestly. Could have done without you getting detention, but we’ll make sure that doesn’t happen anymore.” She stilled the movement of her hands. “Evie, are you happy?” 

This wasn’t the first time she had heard the question, and she knew it wouldn’t be the last. She also knew better than to lie. “No, but I think I could be.” 

Mal leaned forward and kissed her, pulling back after a moment and resting their foreheads together. “I will do anything to make you happy, baby girl.” 

“I know, and I will do the same for you.” Evie wrapped her arms around her and leaned her head on her shoulder. Sometimes, she just wanted to be close to Mal and feel her warmth. 

She heard the bathroom door open and then a voice. “Are you being mushy? Stop it before you scar Carlos.”

“Unlike you, I’m not a child, so I don’t care.” Carlos stood and went into the bathroom.

Now that Jay had ruined the moment, Evie felt extremely tired. She let out a sigh and a second later, Mal slid down on the bed so they could lay. Evie shifted so she wasn’t completely on top of her girlfriend. She buried her face in her chest and reached out to hold one of her hands. 

“Evil dreams.” Mal whispered. Evie just smiled and closed her eyes.


	5. Slip Ups

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all of your comments! It really helps me to plan out what to write next. I'm glad that most of you seem to be enjoying the pacing/character development, because that was something I wasn't completely sure I was doing well. If you have any ideas or critiques, let me know!

Tuesday wasn’t much different than Monday. Evie woke up early and accidentally elbowed Mal, resulting in her waking up too. Instead of talking, they made out for a while until it was time to start getting ready. Evie picked out another great outfit while Mal woke up the boys, and then their day was starting. 

They went to breakfast and Evie managed to eat a piece of toast with a little bit of jelly. She didn’t feel great, but she felt like she could handle the weight in her stomach. It suddenly struck her that this was the longest she had gone without throwing up in years. 

English was fine, and even history wasn’t bad (despite Chad’s annoying flirting). In math, Mr. Reynolds was still trying to antagonize Evie and Carlos, but they stayed quiet and to themselves to avoid any confrontation. 

Evie instantly relaxed when she walked into Goodness class and was next to Mal again. The morning had been okay, but she always felt better when she had the other girl with her. 

Lunch time was next and Evie chose some sort of sandwich. As soon as she took a bite, she knew there was no way she could finish it. Even though she was in a pretty good mood and nothing major had happened, she could still feel the nervousness creeping into her body. 

“Mal, will you go to the bathroom with me?” Evie asked suddenly, interrupting the conversation. 

“Are you okay?” Mal demanded, though she was already standing up. 

Evie silently led the way towards the bathroom. It was empty, but she still grabbed her hand and pulled her into a stall. “Kiss me.” She ordered. 

“What?”

“I don’t want to get upset. I need to relax, and you help with that. Kiss me.” She pleaded. 

“It’s okay, you’re alright.” Mal put her hands on her shoulders and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. Evie tried to deepen it, but Mal pulled back and started to pepper light kisses across her face. “Intelligent.” She kissed her cheek. “Passionate.” Her nose. “Strong.” Her forehead. “Gorgeous.” Her chin. “Caring.” Her neck. “You are _everything_.” 

Evie just leaned down, resting her forehead against Mal’s shoulder. She heard the bathroom door opened, but Mal didn’t react. She threaded her fingers through Evie’s hair and kept her in place as she rocked slightly back and forth. Whoever it was washed their hands quickly and then exited. 

“What’s going on?” Mal wondered. 

“I tried to eat and I could feel myself getting upset. Nothing big has happened today, so I don’t know why I feel like that.” 

“I’m glad you tried to do something about it instead of letting it control you.” Mal kissed her lips. “Do you feel a little better?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Let’s go back out there.” Mal kissed her one last time before unlocking the stall door. 

They washed their hands, then went to their table. Carlos and Jay were frowning when they returned. 

“What happened?” Jay questioned. 

“Nothing, it’s fine.” Mal answered easily. 

Evie took another bite of her sandwich. Each bite was harder and harder to swallow, but she kept going. She felt Mal’s hand on her back, rubbing reassuringly. She finished the entire sandwich. 

“Do you want some of my chips?” Jay offered. 

Evie held out her hand. If she could eat the sandwich, maybe she could eat the chips too. She saw the proud expressions on all their faces and it made her want to be better and try harder. She finished the chips, then reached for a cup of pudding and finished that too. 

“I have never wanted to kiss you so badly before.” Mal whispered into her ear. “You’re doing so good, babe.” 

The bell rang, signaling that lunch was over and they needed to get to 5th period. Evie would be alone for the rest of the day, plus Mal had therapy so she wouldn’t get to see her until later, and she had to meet up with Lonnie. 

As she stood, she felt the weight settle deep within her body. Her hands started to sweat and her mouth started to salivate. Mal was talking to her, but she couldn’t hear her over the pounding in her ears. She just smiled and nodded, then turned to walk to the other way so she could go to class. 

Instead, Evie ended up taking a detour to the bathroom. She busted into a stall, dropping her backpack and shutting the door all at once. She barely had to put her fingers in her mouth before she was throwing up. She repeated her actions a few more times until finally, she felt like she could breathe again. 

This was always the weirdest part. Her body felt lighter, but her mind was racing and felt so, so heavy with the weight of her actions. Was she going to tell the others? How would she look them in the eyes and lie? How was she going to eat dinner? 

Evie was covered in a light sheen of sweat and she was absolutely exhausted. She slowly stood, then flushed the toilet and went over to the sink. She dabbed lightly at her face with a paper towel, then rinsed her mouth out with water. She stared at her watery eyes in the mirror and somehow felt worse than when she came into the bathroom. 

She was only a couple minutes late to her fashion design class, and luckily she was able to slip in unnoticed. She couldn’t focus on anything her teacher said. 

“What’s up, sexy?” Chad greeted when Evie walked into chemistry. “You seem upset. Are you okay?”

“I’m fine, Chad.” She said quietly, hoping that no attention was drawn to her. 

“You are a little pale.” Doug commented. When did he even come into the room? 

“You’ve known me for two days so I don’t think you’re really qualified to make that judgment.” Evie told him defensively. “I’m fine, just tired.” 

Luckily, they let it drop. Her luck didn’t last long, however, because then her chemistry teacher was calling on her. She hadn’t been paying attention and she honestly wasn’t even sure what the question was. 

“I’m sorry, can you repeat the question?” 

As he spoke, Evie tried to listen, but she couldn’t. She heard Doug whisper an answer to her and she repeated it back to the teacher, satisfying him enough that he walked away. 

“Thanks.”

“You’re welcome. Are you sure you’re okay?”

“Yes.”

In study hall, Evie just put her head down and let her eyes close. She must have fallen asleep because when the bell rang, she startled so much that she nearly fell off her chair. 

She collected her things and walked out of the classroom, bumping into someone near the door. “I’m sorry.” She practically whispered. She looked up and saw that it was Carlos. 

“You good, E?”

Evie knew it was time to make a choice. She could be honest and tell Carlos that she threw up, or she could try and hide it. She didn’t want to disappoint anyone, but she didn’t want to lie either. 

“Not really.” She admitted. 

“Let’s go back to the dorm. Jay’s going to Tourney practice with Ben and Mal has therapy, so it’ll just be us.”

“No, we have to meet with Lonnie.” She reminded him. She felt her phone vibrate and stopped to check it. 

_From: Mal  
Make sure Carlos goes with you to meet Lonnie. I’ll see you in a little bit_

_To: Mal  
Good luck! See you later_

“Hey guys!” Evie looked up as Lonnie approached them. “Are you still good to meet today?”

“Yes. I have a couple of ideas sketched out for you, and a few more that I haven’t had time to draw yet.”

“Cool. Do you want to go to your dorm?” 

That was the last place Evie wanted to go, but she just nodded. “Okay. Carlos is gonna come with us, by the way.” 

“Fine with me.” 

They walked towards the dorms, Lonnie chatting about whatever popped into her mind. Evie tried her best to focus on her words, but her head felt like it was spinning. 

Evie unlocked the door to the room and the three of them walked in. Carlos made himself comfortable on Mal’s bed, while Evie and Lonnie went over to the couch. 

She finally felt a little better when she started talking about her designs. She showed Lonnie each page, smiling as she gasped at each new outfit and pointed out what she liked about it. Then, Evie took her measurements and wrote out a list of all the materials she would need. 

“Thank you so much, Evie. Everyone in Auradon wears the same boring dresses all the time, so it’ll be fun to actually have something different. I will talk to my parents and get everything you need. Can I have your number so I can text you when I have it?”

“Sure.” Evie wrote down the number that she had memorized as soon as she got her phone (along with Carlos, Mal, and Jay’s numbers). 

“Awesome, thanks!” Lonnie hugged her, which threw Evie off, but she wasn’t exactly surprised. “See ya!” 

As soon as Lonnie left, Evie’s smile dropped. She ran her hands over her face, hoping that she didn’t smudge her makeup. She let out a sigh. 

“You ready to tell me what’s going on?” the room had been so quiet that she nearly forgot Carlos was there. She groaned, knowing that her day was far from over.

\-----

Evie had been Carlos’s first friend. He never really got the chance to be around other kids because he was too busy helping his mother. But when he met the blue haired girl, he knew there was something special about her. Her smile was too carefree for someone from the Isle, and she gave out affection more easily that anyone he had ever known (which wasn’t many people, but still). 

Sure, they had Mal and Jay now, and Evie and Mal were dating, and he was really close with Jay, but he liked to think that his relationship with just Evie was still pretty strong. He could read her better than most people, and he could tell that she definitely wasn’t okay. 

“Huh?” Carlos wanted to roll his eyes, but he didn’t. He couldn’t stand when Evie played dumb. 

“You told me you weren’t okay. I think we both know what that means, but I want to hear you say it before I jump to conclusions.”

Evie visibly shrank. He wondered if he was too harsh, but then he remembered the promises they had made. Evie had promised to come forward if she was feeling a certain type of way, so he needed to push her to hold up on her end of the deal. 

Back on the Isle, there wasn’t a lot of food to go around. Despite this, it was pretty obvious that Evie struggled with eating. He could remember hearing her mother rip her apart, telling her that if she didn’t stop eating, she would feed her nothing but poison apples. One night, after a particularly bad fight with her mom, she had whispered to the three of them in the safety of their hideout that her mother would make her stand naked and she would walk around her and pinch all the places where there was too much fat. 

No one was thrilled with letting Evie starve herself, but they understood it. They had to please their parents; Jay stole, Mal terrorized, Carlos was beaten, and Evie starved. It was just part of life. 

“Come here.” He sat up on the bed. Evie came over to the side, but didn’t make eye contact. “Wanna cuddle?” 

Evie almost always wanted to cuddle. Carlos had a theory that it was because her mother encouraged so much negative touching, so when she had the opportunity for any type of positive touch, she would take it. 

She slid her heels off and climbed onto the bed. She laid down next to him and he put an arm around her waist, pulling her until her back was against his chest. 

“Don’t touch my stomach please.” She whispered. 

Carlos shifted his arm down so it rested on her waist instead. “What happened, E?” 

“I threw up.” She admitted. She spoke so softly he almost didn’t hear her. 

“Okay.” He responded, then kissed the back of her head. Carlos grabbed the blanket and pulled it up, hoping it would help her feel warm and safe. They laid there in silence. 

The door opened suddenly and they both nearly jumped out of their skin. They were both sensitive to loud noises and Auradon had a lot of them, unfortunately. 

“Hey, it’s just me.” Jay greeted quietly. He must have noticed their position because he came over, kneeling down so he could see their faces. “What happened? You guys good? Did someone hurt you?” 

“We’re okay. Go shower, you stink.” Carlos told him. Jay sighed in defeat and went to the bathroom. “You need to tell Mal and Jay.”

Evie nodded against him. “I will.” 

About five minutes later, Jay came over to them freshly showered and in new clothes. He lifted up the blankets and then scooped up Evie. He sat next to Carlos and moved so she could sit on his lap. Evie straddled him and rested her head on his chest. They had asked Evie once who she liked to cuddle the most, and she told them that they each had different qualities; obviously she loved cuddling with Mal because she loved her and made her feel safe and comfortable, while Carlos was great at calming her down, and she loved being in Jay’s arms because he was so much bigger than her.

“What’s up, E?” 

“Why do you assume something is wrong with me? Maybe something happened to Carlos.” She said defensively. 

“Well I can see that you’re pale and shaky, and even if you weren’t, you just gave yourself away by yelling at me.” Jay kissed her forehead. “Talk.” 

Before Evie could, the dorm room door slammed open, hitting the wall. It hit so hard that Evie and Carlos both flinched; Evie cuddled closer to Jay, and even Carlos scooted over so he could lean his head on his arm. 

“What the fuck, Mal?” Jay questioned, the anger seeping through. He wrapped an arm around Carlos’s shoulders and used his free hand to stroke up and down Evie’s back. 

“This therapy thing is a fucking joke and we’re not going anymore.” Mal practically had steam coming out of her ears. Carlos knew realistically that she wouldn’t hurt him, but it still made him nervous. He glanced over at Evie, who had relaxed again- obviously she knew that she had nothing to fear when it came to her girlfriend. 

“What happened?” Carlos wondered. 

“That bitch had the nerve to ask questions that no one on the Isle would dare to say out loud, and then acted like I was the one out of line when I yelled at her for it.” Her pacing stopped abruptly as her eyes landed on the position the three of them were in. “What the fuck happened now?” 

Carlos stared at her, trying to communicate to her that she needed to calm down. Mal’s eyes had zeroed in on Evie, and they were lighting up in that eerie green color. She came over and sat at the end of the bed. “Evie.” 

Carlos watched as Evie sat up. He could see her hands shaking and she was biting her bottom lip anxiously. She pulled away from Jay and crawled over to Mal, laying her head in her lap. 

“What’s wrong?” Mal questioned. She was still tense and Carlos could see the rage in her eyes, but he could also tell how much she was trying to control it. Mal had a horrible temper and she had been raised to react before thinking. It almost made him smile when he saw how hard she was trying to be gentle with Evie, despite her obvious anger. 

Evie, however, looked beyond guilty. “I’m sorry.” She whimpered. The tears sprang to her eyes immediately. 

Mal reached out to stroke her cheek and Evie flinched. The purple haired girl frowned. “Are you scared of me?” 

“No.” Evie protested. 

“No matter what, I would never put a hand on you, Evie. I don’t care how upset or mad either of us is, you never have to worry about me hurting you. Will you sit up?”

Evie reluctantly sat. Her eyes shot towards Carlos and he could tell exactly what she needed right now. 

“She threw up.” Carlos announced for Mal and Jay’s benefit, though he was sure they had already guessed it. 

“When?” Mal questioned. 

“After lunch.” Evie said, her eyes glued to the blanket. 

“Why?” Jay asked, but there was no response. Carlos thought that was a stupid question- they had already established the ‘why’ of Evie’s throwing up. 

“You tried a few different things at lunch today.” Carlos reminded her. “Do you think maybe you had too much?”

“Yes.”

“Then why did you keep going?” this time, it was Mal who spoke. 

“Because you guys were all so happy. I wanted you to be proud of me.” 

Mal’s cool composure was gone. She reached out and grabbed Evie’s arms so she could pull her onto her lap. “E, you can’t eat to make us happy. You need to eat because it makes you healthy. You don’t have to push yourself so hard, okay? We’re proud as long as you’re healthy.” 

“But you said you never wanted to kiss me so much.” Evie stated. “I want you to be happy, M.” 

“You being healthy and taking care of yourself makes me happy. You being honest with us makes me happy.” She smirked. “You wearing those pants makes me happy.” 

“You were doing so well until that last part.” Carlos told her, but her statement must have had the desired effect because Evie laughed. 

“Remember what I told you earlier, baby. You are _everything_.” Mal whispered. Carlos didn’t understand what that meant, but Evie blushed, so she must have. “Are you tired?”

“Mmhmm.” 

Mal slid off the bed, shifting Evie so she could carry her. Carlos smiled at the way Evie clung to Mal like a koala, her arms around her neck and legs around her waist. They fell onto Evie’s bed and dissolved into giggles, and he knew everything would be okay again. 

\-----

When Mal woke up, she could tell that the sun was starting to set. She looked down at her girlfriend, who was still asleep against her chest. Mal heard noise from the other side of the room and glanced over. The boys were awake and playing video games, though the volume was turned down so they didn’t disturb the girls. 

Mal used her index finger to trace over Evie’s features. She started with her face, following the path carved out by Evie’s hairline and jaws. Then, she smoothed down two thick eyebrows, watching how they furrowed for a second. Mal pressed the tip of her finger down between Evie’s eyebrows and watched with a smile as her entire face relaxed. She ran three fingers across Evie’s forehead, tickling her skin gently. 

She moved on to one of her favorite parts of her girlfriend’s body. Evie had the most gorgeous eyes she had ever seen. Everyone called them brown, but Mal had seen them dark, light, with hints of green, and with golden specks. They were always expressive, and she could almost always tell what Evie was thinking or how she was feeling based on her eyes. Mal lightly stroked the tops of her eyelids, then followed the curve of her long, dark eyelashes. She had watched Evie coat them in mascara millions of times, but she didn’t understand why because they were perfect. 

Mal rubbed her cheeks gently with the side of her finger, watching as Evie smiled in her sleep. She loved having her cheeks stroked and that was always a good way to help her calm down. 

Next was her nose. Mal started at the top and ran her finger all the way down to the tip of her nose. She kept going and traced over the middle of her lips, then to her chin. She pressed against the dimple that sat there, then moved up. 

Evie’s lips were another of Mal’s favorite parts. The only word she could think of to describe them was pretty. They were so pink and plump, and maybe it had a little to do with the fact that Evie’s smile was Mal’s favorite thing in the world. She outlined her lips with the very tip of her finger and Evie smiled. 

“It’s kind of creepy that you’re just laying here staring at me.” Evie told her, and those beautiful eyes fluttered open. 

“I can’t help it.” Mal leaned down and kissed her. “You’re so beautiful.” 

Evie just smiled and stretched sleepily. She scooted up so she could bury her face in Mal’s neck. She pressed light kisses against her skin, making Mal close her eyes in contentment. 

“How was your meeting with Lonnie?”

“Good. She loved my designs, and I was able to get her measurements. She’s going to get all the materials for me and then pay me to make the clothes.”

“Look at my girl, selling Isle chic to the prissy princesses.” 

Evie smiled. “Hopefully it’ll be enough money that I can buy some materials for all of us. I have so many ideas.” 

“If not, I’m sure we can find another way.” Mal kissed the side of her head. 

“How are you, M?” Evie reached a hand up and ran it through Mal’s hair gently. “I’m sorry I kind of stole the spotlight after your therapy appointment.”

“You didn’t.” Mal promised, grabbing her palm and kissing it to punctuate her words. “I just…I feel like an animal in a cage. These people are just poking us and digging around in our lives. I hate feeling like if we say the wrong thing, they’re going to send us back.” Evie kissed her neck again in silent encouragement. “She was asking about our parents. When we were locked up in there when we first got to Auradon, they asked me who was in charge of the Isle and I told them Maleficent. The doctor kept asking about how she gained that power and how she kept it, and where I fit into all of that.” 

Evie’s hand continued to stroke through her hair. “What did you say?” 

“I yelled at her. Why does she think she’s earned the right to know that after talking to me for fifteen minutes? Why should I have to tell her anything about my personal life? I really don’t want to go back, and I don’t want you going tomorrow.”

“You heard what FG said to Carlos. It’s not optional.” Evie sighed. “How do you want me to play this? Mature and nonconfrontational? Loud outburst? Silent treatment?” 

“Well I already did the outburst thing, and they didn’t react very well. Besides, now that they saw me do it, they might try to plan ahead for that and have security tomorrow and I do _not_ want anyone putting their hands on you.” 

Evie pressed another quick kiss to her neck. “Mature and nonconfrontational it is.” 

Mal scooted down so that their heads were next to each other. She put a hand on Evie’s cheek and stared into her eyes. Right now, they were light brown, like a pot of honey. Mal leaned in and pressed one, two, three quick kisses against her lips. Evie chased her lips after the last one, and Mal never could deny her anything. She captured her lips for much longer this time, sucking the bottom one into her mouth. Evie groaned, causing Mal to climb on top of her. 

“Will you two stop eating each other’s faces like we’re not right here?” Jay shouted from the couch. 

Evie pulled back. “Will you shut the fuck up and let us do as we please?” 

Mal couldn’t help but laugh at her girlfriend’s response. Jay faked a gasp. “Wow, that’s not very princess-like of you.” 

Mal ignored him and kissed her lips again, then her chin, then her throat until she was down to her chest. She started to nibble at the skin there, making her girlfriend giggle. 

Suddenly, she was hit in the head with a pillow. She sat up, glaring at Jay, who was cackling. She smirked. “Hey E, wanna fuck right here in front of them?” 

“I thought you would never ask.” 

“Okay, okay, you win!” Jay called out. “I swear, anyone who says teenaged boys have the weird hormones has never met you two.” 

Evie laughed, giving Mal one last kiss before she slid out from under her. She went into the bathroom, shutting the door quietly behind her. 

“How are we doing dinner?” Carlos asked. 

“Let’s just stay here.” Mal responded. She didn’t want to push Evie too far out of her comfort zone. “I’ll go down and get food.” 

It didn’t take long for Mal to get to the cafeteria. There weren’t too many people since dinner was close to over, which she was grateful for. She made her way to the food line and grabbed a couple of boxes so she could fill them up.

She wasn’t exactly sure what she was choosing, but she grabbed a little bit of everything. She knew the boys would eat whatever, and she hoped that Evie would at least try one thing. There were no pineapples, but she grabbed a cup of strawberries as a back-up in case Evie refused everything else. 

When she got back into the room, Evie and Carlos were sprawled out on the floor with textbooks open around them. Jay was still on the couch, his focus on the TV. 

“I’m back.” Mal announced unnecessarily. She put the food on her desk, then sat next to Evie and Carlos. “E, first pick.” 

Evie looked like she wanted to be anywhere other than there right now, and Mal imagined she probably did. But she also stood up, straightened her shoulders, and walked over to the desk.

Evie returned to her seat. She had a small piece of pizza and a couple of strawberries, and Mal nodded in approval. “I’m so proud of you, Pretty Girl. I know you had a rough afternoon, and I’m happy that you were able to pick out something.” 

Evie smiled uncomfortably, but Mal didn’t mind. She would keep praising and complimenting her until she believed it. 

The other three went towards the desk at the same time. Mal had to practically fight the boys off for her own share of food, but she did manage to snatch her own piece of pizza and the rest of the strawberries. She sat down next to Evie. 

“You’re actually gonna do your homework?” 

“Yes, and so are you.” Mal groaned. “We can’t slack off without someone being on our case, and I would like to stay under the radar as much as possible.” 

The boys joined them a moment later. Jay plopped down, catching Mal’s attention. 

“How was that Tourney thing today?” 

Jay smiled a real, genuine smile. “It was awesome!” he launched into his story, making his friends laugh at his excitement. Mal was happy for the distraction, and she noticed that once again, when they were all talking and being positive, Evie seemed to eat more. She finished about half of her pizza and all of her strawberries, then got back to work on homework. 

Carlos finished next and sat next to the blue haired girl, both working on their math. Mal knew that math wasn’t her strong suit and she would probably need help, so she cleaned her food up and grabbed her own book. Jay went to walk towards the couch, but Mal grabbed his shirt. 

“Nope, sit down and get your work done.”

Jay groaned, but he didn’t protest. The four of them were able to breeze through each subject as a team. Carlos and Evie were good at English, math, and chemistry, but even they struggled a little bit with Auradon history. Jay was okay at history and math, but terrible at chemistry and English. Mal’s strong subject was English, while math and chemistry were her worst (and if she pretended to be a little more clueless in chemistry than she actually was just so she could hear Evie explain it to her, no one called her on it).

About an hour later, they were all tired. Evie had finished her homework and now her head was resting on her book and her eyes were shut. Carlos was explaining part of the English assignment to Jay, and Mal was trying to finish answering her last question. 

After she added her last sentence, Mal shut her book. She looked over and saw that the boys seemed to be wrapping up, and Evie looked ready to sleep. 

“Go shower.” She told her girlfriend, smoothing her hair back gently. 

“Wanna join me?” Evie questioned. 

Mal smiled. “Of course.” She followed her to the bathroom and shut the door gently behind them. Tomorrow, they would have to deal with more food and more homework and more Auradon kids. But tonight, she was happy to just be with the three people she cared about the most.


	6. Wednesday

Evie was convinced that Wednesday had been the longest day in Auradon so far. The newness of her classes was finally wearing off, so it seemed like they dragged on for forever. Mal got in trouble in Goodness class and had to eat lunch with Fairy Godmother, leaving Evie to eat alone with the boys. Chad was still flirting, her teachers were still extra hard on her, and now she had to add therapy to the mix. 

When the bell rang for 7th period to end, Evie was the last one to stand. She was dreading having to talk to a doctor about her life. Her phone vibrated and she looked down at it, hoping for a distraction from her nervousness. 

_From: Mal  
Text me if anything happens and I’ll be there right away _

_From: Mal  
Even if the doctor looks at you in the wrong way, I want to know _

Evie smiled at the overprotectiveness, but she appreciated it nonetheless. If there was one thing she never doubted, it was Mal’s love and dedication to her. 

_To: Mal  
You’ll be the first to know_

_To: Mal  
Thank you_

_From: Mal  
Anything for you, Pretty Girl _

Evie felt the familiar butterflies moving around her stomach as she shoved her phone back into her bag, but she didn’t know if it was from Mal or being nervous. She walked into the health center and was met by a woman. 

“Hi, you must be Evie. I’m Dr. Bren. It’s nice to meet you.” 

“You too.” Evie shook her extended hand. 

Dr. Bren led her down the hallway to a room. When she opened the door, there were various seating options. “You can sit anywhere you like.” 

Evie chose a spot facing the door so she could see if anyone came in. She sat down and studied Dr. Bren. She looked around 30 with dark brown hair. She was pretty and had a nice smile, but Evie knew firsthand how deadly that could be. 

“I’ll start by telling you a little bit about me. My name is Dr. Nina Bren, and I have been a therapist for three years now. I went to Auradon Prep when I was your age, but my parents aren’t very well known. I’m married and I have two dogs. I’m excited to get to know more about you and your friends and to help you adjust to life in Auradon.” Dr. Bren smiled. “Can you tell me about you?” 

“My name is Evie. I’m 16.” She said simply. 

“What do you like to do?” 

“I’m good at making clothes.” 

“Really? Did you make the outfit you’re wearing right now?” 

Evie nodded. She launched into an explanation, pointing out the different materials and why she chose them. Maybe she could just distract Dr. Bren and then she wouldn’t ask any serious questions. 

“Tell me about your relationship with Mal, Carlos, and Jay.” 

Evie frowned. “What do you mean?” she didn’t want to give this woman anything to use against them, so she would just play dumb. 

“How long have you been friends?” 

Evie laughed. “‘Friends’ isn’t really a term on the Isle. It’s more like gang activity.” 

“So you were a gang?” 

The blue haired girl shrugged. “We protect each other.” She gave Dr. Bren an icy stare, trying to communicate to her that even now, she would be protecting her friends and not giving information on them. 

“Okay, let’s talk about Auradon. How do you like it so far?” 

“It’s fine.” Evie said carefully. 

“What has been the hardest part of adjusting?” 

Luckily, she was the best at training her facial expressions. She just smiled. “There’s a lot more homework.” 

Dr. Bren nodded, but didn’t react. Evie was pretty sure that she knew that she was trying to avoid talking about anything personal, but she didn’t call her on it. “What’s your favorite class?”

“Probably either chemistry or fashion design.” 

“You like chemistry?” 

Evie felt the defensiveness creep in. “What, you think that because I like fashion I can’t like chemistry too?”

“No, that’s not what I’m saying. I was wondering what you like about it.” 

“I just like to learn.” 

“What were classes like back on the Isle?”

“Well the biggest difference is that attendance wasn’t mandatory.” Evie admitted. 

“I want to switch gears a little bit here. I know your mother is the Evil Queen, but I’m not sure who your father is.”

“Your guess is as good as mine.” 

“When I spoke to Mal and Carlos, they had the same reaction. Is it uncommon for someone to have two parents on the Isle?”

“Yeah, you could say that.” 

“Why is that?” 

Evie shrugged. “No one talks about it. Most people don’t even know who their other parent is.” 

“Your mother is a witch. Have you felt any magical urges since you came to Auradon?” 

“No.” Evie answered truthfully. She knew that Mal had felt her magic the moment she crossed the bridge, but Evie didn’t feel any different. 

“How was life with your mother?” 

_“Sit up straight, Genevieve.”_

_“Smile pretty, a prince likes a girl with a beautiful mouth.”_

_“You think you can just keep eating the way you have been? The calories are going straight to your stomach, dear. You will never find someone to love you if you look like that.”_

Evie blinked, pulling herself out of her daze. “Fine.”

“When I spoke to Mal, I got the impression that maybe she worked for her mother.” 

Evie raised an eyebrow. “Should you be telling me that? Aren’t you supposed to only talk about me?” 

“I was just wondering if maybe you had some more insight on that. Did you work for your mother?” 

_“If you weren’t so fat you could fit in this dress! I couldn’t even get the pirates to touch you with the way this is clinging to you in all the wrong places!”_

She swallowed harshly. “How would I work for my mother?” 

“Your mother is one of the worst villains on the Isle. We know she was allied with Maleficent, Cruella DeVil, and Jafar. I’m just trying to figure out what life would be like for a child of one of the most powerful villains.” 

She gave her a fake smile. “It was as great as you would think.”

“Evie, my job is to help you with this transition. I can’t imagine how hard it must be to move to a completely new place that has a totally different atmosphere. I know it doesn’t sound like fun to spill your deep personal secrets to a stranger, but I’m here to help you.” 

“You’re here to help?” she questioned. “Where was your ‘help’ when all of the children were cursed to the Isle just because of their parents? I don’t need your pity or your help.” 

“I’m not pitying you. My goal is to discuss the hard topics so that you can begin to work through them.” 

Evie laughed dryly. “I don’t need to work through anything. I’m perfectly fine.” 

“Okay.” Dr. Bren smiled. “I think that’s all for today. I’ll see you again next week.” 

“It was a pleasure.” Evie said in an overly cheery voice. She stormed out of the health center. 

The damage was done. She had tried so hard to bottle up all of her thoughts and feelings about her mother and the Isle. She promised herself that if she could just get through this week, she would be okay. Now, her chest felt tight and heavy after one little meeting with a therapist. How was she going to do this every single Wednesday?

When Evie entered her and Mal’s dorm room, she was surprised to see Ben sitting on the couch. The boys were on the floor with controllers in their hands, and Mal was curled up in a chair with her math homework. Evie dug her nails into her palms; all she wanted to do was come home and cuddle with Mal and forget about all of this. 

“Good afternoon, Evie! How are you?” he greeted. 

“I’m doing well. How are you, Prince Ben?” 

“Oh, just Ben is fine.” He smiled. “I just wanted to check in with you all and see how you are doing.” 

Evie dug her nails even harder into her hands. Why was everyone so convinced that they needed someone to check on them? Why were their lives public business? 

“The classes are great.” She responded with a tight smile.

“How was your therapy appointment today?” 

Evie felt three other sets of eyes drift towards her. She just nodded. “Fantastic.” 

Mal’s math book shut loudly and she dropped it to the floor. “Hey E, can you help me with some makeup?” 

Evie was confused; Mal rarely wore makeup, and never by her own choice. She felt Mal’s hand wrap around her wrist and pull her towards the bathroom, so she figured she didn’t have much of a choice. She shut the door behind them. 

“What are you…” Mal turned her wrists over and Evie noticed the blood on her hands. “Oh.” 

“Uncurl your fingers.” Mal held her wrists gently as Evie opened her hands. “You dug your nails into your hands.” 

“I didn’t even notice.” 

Mal sighed, but didn’t speak. She turned on the water and stuck Evie’s hands underneath so she could clean up the small amount of blood. “I take it therapy didn’t go well?” 

“I didn’t like her attitude.”

“What do you mean?” 

“She’s way too carefree about the questions she asks.” 

“I told you.” Mal pressed a towel to Evie’s hands to stop the bleeding. “How are you really?” 

“Exhausted.” 

“I’m sorry.” Mal kissed her cheek. Evie just leaned against her, letting her head rest on Mal’s shoulder. “You’re okay, Princess.” She pulled the towel away and saw that the bleeding had stopped. “No more blood.” 

“When is Ben leaving?” 

“I don’t know, he didn’t even warn us he was coming. These Auradon kids have no manners.” Mal sat down on the floor, then reached her arms up towards her girlfriend. Evie took the hint and sat down between Mal’s legs, letting her wrap her arms around her. She rocked her gently back and forth. 

Evie just melted into her and shut her eyes. She could almost pretend that they were back on the Isle and everything was normal. “I wish Ben would leave so we could take a nap.” 

“I’m worried about you.” 

Evie kept her eyes shut and sighed. “Why?”

“You never napped on the Isle, and now you’ve been exhausted by afternoon every day. I can tell how much you’re struggling. I want you to be happy.” 

“I just keep reminding myself that there’s a reason why we’re here. Once I get used to things here, it’ll be better.” Evie tilted her head up so she could see Mal’s face. “How are you?” 

“I just told you, I’m worried about you.”

“Yeah, but how are _you_? Take me out of the equation.” 

“I could never take you out of anything.” Mal kissed her forehead. “You’re the only thing that matters.” 

Evie couldn’t help but smile. “Auradon has made you sappy, Mal Bertha.” 

“Not sappy, I just want to make sure my intelligent, sexy, strong, gorgeous girlfriend knows how special she is.” She kissed the tip of Evie’s nose. “But like you said, Auradon will take some getting used to. Once I know that you’re okay, I’ll be okay.” 

Evie looked down at her lap. “I don’t know if I’ll ever be okay.” 

“You will.” Mal reassured her. She continued to rock her and Evie shut her eyes again. 

She must have fallen asleep, sitting there on the bathroom floor in Mal’s arms. The next thing she knew, she was being lifted into the air. Her eyes flew open. 

“Mal?” she called out frantically. 

“It’s Carlos, I’m just carrying you to bed. You’re safe.” He reassured her. She leaned her head on his shoulder. A few seconds later, she was being put down on the bed. She was almost asleep again when suddenly, a voice popped into her head. 

_“Lay back, Genevieve. It’s your job to please.”_

Evie turned, falling out of the bed and onto the ground. She crawled across the floor until she was near the wall. She sank down with her back against it and curled her knees up to her chest. She rested her forehead against her knees. 

_“You give them what they need. Let them use you.”_

A hand touched her and she flinched. “No, Mother. Please.” 

“Evie, it’s Mal. We’re in Auradon. Your mom isn’t here. You are safe. Please, baby girl, let me see those beautiful eyes.” 

“Mal.” She whimpered. 

“I’m right here.” Evie felt someone grab her hand, and then a gentle kiss was pressed against her palm. She opened her eyes slowly and saw Mal sitting on the floor in front of her. Carlos and Jay were standing behind Mal, looking ready to jump into action at any moment. 

Evie shuffled closer to the purple haired girl. “Mal, please.” She whispered, clinging to her arm. “Don’t let them in.”

\-----

It was the first time since coming to Auradon that Mal had seen that much fear in Evie’s eyes. She had hoped that coming to a new place would calm her worries, but it seemed like they were back in full force. 

“No one is coming in.” she reassured her, stroking her hair gently. 

Unfortunately, someone chose that moment to knock on the dorm room door. 

Evie nearly jumped out of her skin. She crawled across the floor until she was under the bed. Her breaths were coming in pants and her eyes were squeezed shut. 

“What do we do?” Jay questioned. He and Carlos had seen Evie melt down before, but never like this. 

“Don’t answer the door.” Mal said before laying down on her stomach next to the bed. “Evie, baby, listen to me. Everything is okay.”

There was another loud knock on the door. 

Evie started to cry, curling up even more if that was possible. “No, Mother. Please, I’ll be good. Please don’t let them in.” 

Mal could feel her eyes light up. She glared at the boys. “Get rid of whoever that is. Now.” She wasn’t even sure what to do. Evie was crying and hyperventilating and there was an Auradon kid in the hallway asking for them. How was she supposed to fix this? 

“Evie.” She called out. “Listen to my voice, my princess. I promise that you are safe. I’m going to grab your hand, okay, baby girl?” Mal touched Evie’s hand. She didn’t flinch, so she squeezed it gently. Mal scooted closer and pressed Evie’s hand against her chest. “You’re doing so good, E. Just keep breathing in and out.” 

“No.” Evie cried out, her eyes still shut. 

“Open your eyes for me, babe.” Mal stroked her cheek with the hand she wasn’t using to press Evie’s hand against her chest. 

“It’s not safe.” Evie whispered. 

“It is safe. Would I ever let anyone hurt you?” 

Evie frowned as if she was considering it, and then her eyes fluttered open. “Come here.” She mumbled. Mal sighed, but scooted until she was underneath the bed next to her girlfriend. “They can’t see us.”

“There isn’t anyone here to see us. We’re in Auradon, E, remember? It’s just us and Carlos and Jay.” 

They were already cramped together, but Evie squished herself right into Mal’s side. “You’ll keep me safe.” 

“Always.” Mal promised. “If there was anything to be worried about, I would protect you. No one will ever even breathe the same air as you, let alone have the chance to put their hands on you.” Mal kissed her cheek, then moved out from under the bed. “Come on, baby.” 

“I don’t think I can.” 

“You can.” Mal encouraged. “I need you to come out, E.”

The dorm room door opened, then shut. Mal turned, seeing the boys reenter the room. She cursed when she heard Evie whimper again. 

“Remember what you said, Evie. I’ll keep you safe. There is nothing to be scared of.” Evie scooted a little further towards the edge of the bed. “That’s it, my beautiful girl. Keep moving.” 

“This is Auradon?”

“Yes. We’re in our dorm room at Auradon Prep.” Evie scooted closer. “You’re doing so good.” 

Evie kept scooting until finally, she was half way out. Mal pulled her the rest of the way until she was on her lap. She stood up, holding her girlfriend carefully in her arms. She swayed from side to side.

“I’ve got you, baby. You’re okay.” She whispered. Mal sat down on the bed, keeping Evie safely on her lap. She couldn’t believe how quickly everything had gone downhill.

“I’m sorry, Mal. I’m sorry, I’m sorry…” Evie was repeating over and over again. 

“Shhh, you don’t have to apologize. Calm down.” Mal stroked her fingers through her hair. She rested their foreheads together. “Just breathe, Pretty Girl.”

It took a few minutes, but finally, Evie seemed to settle down. She pulled back slightly and Mal’s heart broke at the sight of her red, swollen eyes. 

“Jay?” Evie croaked out, her voice cracking from all of the crying. 

“What’s up, E?” 

“Will you stay here tonight?” 

“Of course.” He came over and sat next to Mal on the bed. He grabbed Evie’s hand. “Carlos and I will be right here.” 

“Come on, let’s lay down.” Mal suggested. 

“No!” Evie gripped her shoulders frantically. “I don’t wanna lay down.” 

“Okay.” Mal soothed, pressing a quick kiss to her temple. “What do you need?” 

“I need to be touching you.” Evie practically whispered. “You’re real.”

“Alright, get up for a second.” Mal said. She waited until Evie was standing, then moved so she could sit at the top of the bed with her back against the center of the headboard. “Come here.” Evie went over, and Mal pulled her until she was straddling her lap, their chests smashed together and Evie’s face resting in the crook of her neck. She wrapped both arms around her and cuddled her close. “How is this?”

“Perfect.” Evie said with a sigh. 

“Jay, sit next to me.” Mal ordered. He didn’t even hesitate before going to sit to her left. “Carlos, come here.” 

Carlos wordlessly walked over, sitting on Mal’s right. He pulled the blankets up, tucking them around the four of them. Mal felt Evie nuzzle closer to her and she just tightened her arms around her. She didn’t care if her legs went numb from her girlfriend’s weight; she would sit there all night if it made her feel better. 

It was clear to Mal that therapy had not been as simple for Evie as she made it out to be, and she would bet anything that it brought on some flashbacks for her. She was no stranger to the blue haired girl’s nightmares and traumas, but this was a little more extreme than Mal had gotten used to dealing with. 

Evie couldn’t stop trembling. Mal did what she knew usually calmed her down- played with her hair, rubbed her back, kissed her forehead- but none of it seemed to help. It wasn’t until Mal’s arms tightened around Evie’s back at the same time Carlos held one of Evie’s hands and Jay wrapped his arm around her that Evie finally took a deep breath, then sighed out in contentment. Her entire body relaxed all at once. 

Mal didn’t know what she wanted to happen next. She wished Evie could sleep so she could escape from all this, but she knew better than anyone that sometimes being asleep was worse than being awake. They had been sitting in those same positions for at least two hours when Mal felt Evie’s breathing start to even out. She kept her own breathing steady, knowing how much her heartbeat soothed her anxious girlfriend. 

She waited a while before she broke the silence. “She’s asleep.” She mumbled, not needing to speak any louder because of the close proximity. 

“What the fuck happened?” Jay questioned. “I’ve never seen her like that.”

“I’m guessing it had to do with therapy.” Mal said. 

“What happened when you guys were in the bathroom?” Carlos wondered. 

“The whole reason I pulled her in there was because I saw blood on her hands. She dug her nails into her skin and made herself bleed and didn’t even realize it. She told me she wanted Ben to leave so we could take a nap, and I told her I was worried about her. She’s been so tired lately and she’s struggling so much with food.” Mal kissed her forehead gently, trying not to wake her. “She said she didn’t know if she would ever be okay, and I told her she would. Then we sat there and she fell asleep and that’s when you came in, Carlos.”

“Did she say anything about therapy?”

“Just that she didn’t like Dr. Bren’s attitude and that she was too carefree about the questions she asked. You heard what Evie was saying, though. I think we all know exactly what she was picturing.” 

“We’re fucked.” Jay stated. Mal and Carlos looked at him in confusion. “She’s losing it. How are we going to pull any of this off when she can’t get it together?” 

“I swear I will knock your ass out if I ever hear you talk about her like that again.” Mal threated, her body tensing up. 

“Stop, you’re going to wake her up.” Carlos interrupted. “Jay, I know you didn’t mean to sound like as big of a douchebag as you just did. We need to find a way to calm Evie down and help her so that we can move on with the plan.” 

Mal felt Evie’s hand grasp her t-shirt in a fist and she started to whimper. It only last for a few seconds before she full-on screamed. 

Helping Evie was definitely going to be easier said than done, but Mal knew they would have to find a way.


	7. Reality

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning: This chapter has some sensitive stuff, read the tags. 
> 
> This was a chapter that I felt was necessary, but I don't know how I feel about it fitting into the overall story. Do you think the flashback fits in okay with everything else? I want to start getting into their past on the Isle, but the best way to tell it is through flashbacks, so I'm trying to decide if I like how they fit. Please tell me your thoughts- would you like to see more flashbacks?

_“This is for you.”_

_Evie smiled at Mal as she held out a little box. “What is it?” she opened it up, finding a sketch book with a blue, barely worn cover. It was folded on one edge, both otherwise, it was in perfect condition. “But you love to draw! You can’t give me this, you should have it.”_

_Mal shrugged. “I still have my old sketch book. You love drawing your designs, and you’re good at it. Plus, it’s your color. As soon as I saw it I knew you needed it.”_

_“How did you get this? Drop off day is always so hectic.”_

_“Being short has its perks.” Mal bit her lip, her nervousness obvious. “Do you like it?”_

_“I love it. Thank you.” Evie leaned in and connected their lips._

_The two girls had known each other since childhood. Their mothers, along with Jay’s dad and Carlos’s mom, would get together to scheme up ways to get off the Isle. They were never allowed to call each other ‘friend’, so they instead referred to themselves as a gang. Now that they were 13, the whole “gang” thing was starting to be taken more serious and there were more expectations from their parents._

_Mal put her hands gently on Evie’s shoulders and pushed her back to lay down. She continued to attack her lips, sliding her tongue along the bottom one. Evie immediately granted her access and the battle for control began. As always, Mal won and Evie gave in, letting her take what she wanted._

_Mal’s hands drifted down to the bottom of her shirt. She ran her fingers teasingly along the exposed skin, causing Evie to groan. She slid one under the material and raked her fingernails up and down Evie’s sides._

_“M.” she moaned when Mal moved back, trailing her kisses down to her neck instead. Her other hand went under Evie’s shirt. The blue haired girl just closed her eyes and let her touch. They had gone this far before, and she knew Mal would ask before pushing her any further._

_The bedroom door slammed open, smacking against the wall from the force. The shocked gasp was what finally cleared the haze from her mind and Evie’s eyes flew open, coming face to face with her mother. Mal stood up, allowing Evie to sit._

_Others may have laughed at the idea that the Evil Queen could be scary. She spent more time worrying about clothes and makeup than she did territory or murder, but they never had to see her the way Evie did._

_“So this is what you get up to when I’m not home?” Her mother’s voice was shrill. Before Evie could even open her mouth, the woman snatched her arm, squeezing her wrist. “Answer me, girl!”_

_“I’m sorry, Mother, it’s not…”_

_Her mother slapped her across the face, then gripped her chin in her hand. “Don’t you dare tell me it’s not what I think, you stupid, stupid girl. It’s pretty hard to confuse my daughter, spread on the bed like a slut, with another girl’s hands up her shirt and her mouth on her neck. Look at you, you’re all marked up like a common whore!”_

_Evie could hear Mal’s slight growl from behind her, but luckily her mother was too angry. Unfortunately, Evie’s eyes did drift towards her girlfriend, which brought attention towards her._

_“GET OUT!” Evil Queen screamed, turning to stare at Mal. “Get out, and if you even think of looking at my daughter again, I will kill you!”_

_Mal was glued to her spot, her gaze focused on the woman before her. Evie nearly gasped when she saw Mal’s eyes start to glow green._

_“It’s okay, Mal.” Evie told her, cursing the way her voice shook._

_Mal seemed conflicted, but she must have known there was nothing she could do. She sent Evie a glance that the other girl immediately knew meant to come see her later, and then she stormed out._

_Now that they were alone, her mother yanked her up off the bed. “Take your clothes off.”_

_Evie shook her head. “Mother, I’m sorry, I…”_

_“I’ve heard rumors about you running around town with that little tramp. Do you think I’m going to let you embarrass me? I have raised you to find a PRINCE, Genevieve. I did not raise a dyke.”_

_“Mother…”_

_“If you’re not undressed in three seconds, I will do it for you.”_

_Evie rushed, knowing her mother wasn’t kidding. She pulled her shirt over her head, then slid down her leggings and skirt. She stood uncomfortably in just her bra and underwear._

_“Everything.”_

_Evie reluctantly slid off her undergarments, letting them pile on the floor with her other clothes. Her mother suddenly let out a yell, then grabbed a fist full of her hair and yanked her into the hallway. Evie bit her lip, trying not to cry out because she knew it would only make it worse. Her mother pulled her until they reached the stairs leading to the attic._

_“Walk, you slut!” her mother shoved her hard. Evie fell, banging her knee into the stairs. She got up quickly and moved until she was upstairs. Evil Queen followed until they reached the tiny room._

_Evie started to panic. “Mother, I’ll be better. I promise I’ll…”_

_“Oh, it’s too late for that, Genevieve.” She opened the door. “You will stay in this room where no one can see you until you don’t look like a whore. You are a disappointment.” She grabbed Evie’s hair again and used it to yank her into the room, then shut the door behind her._

_“Mother, please!” Evie shouted. There were no windows and she could already feel the all-consuming darkness around her. The room was barely bigger than a closet. “Mother!”_

_Evie lost track of time. She sat in the darkness, completely naked for what felt like forever. At first, she drifted in and out of sleep because she had nothing else to do. Then, she started to sleep to try and cover up the pains from having no food or water. She was asleep when the door flew open one day, sending her into a panic._

_“Get up, girl.”_

_Evie rose slowly, feeling lightheaded. She squinted and tried to stand straight, but her body hurt from being cramped up for so long._

_“Seven days seemed long enough to get rid of the marks.” Her mother stated. “Are you still thinking of your precious Mal?”_

_Mal was all Evie had been thinking about. She knew that no matter what her mom did, it couldn’t keep her away. They had known each other for most of their lives and they needed each other._

_Unfortunately, her face must have given something away because her mother just stared at her. “You know, Genevieve, I think it’s time to start the next step in your training.”_

_She nodded. “I’m ready, Mother.”_

_“Good.” Her mother smiled. “It’s the perfect cure for your little issue you’ve been having. Do you know what it is?”_

_“No, Mother.”_

_“You’re going to fuck the gay away.”_

Evie startled awake, her mouth open in a silent scream. She struggled to pull enough air into her lungs. She sat up, surprised when she came face to face with Mal. She realized she was still sitting on her lap, and judging by the amount of light coming in from the windows, she had been all night. 

She just let out an exhausted sigh. She tried to stand up, but she saw that her and Mal were still sandwiched between Jay and Carlos. She carefully climbed over Jay’s legs and then stood up. Evie ran her hands through her hair and then stared up at the ceiling as she paced back and forth.

“Nightmare?” Carlos asked quietly, obviously trying not to startle her. 

“Memory.” Evie kept moving, trying to remind herself to take deep, even breaths. She felt her breath catch and she almost let out a sob, but she pinched her arm to bring herself back to reality. 

“Stop.” She felt a hand touch hers and she opened her eyes, seeing Mal. 

“Please don’t touch me right now.” Evie practically whispered. She hated herself for it, but sometimes after one of her episodes, it hurt to be close to Mal more than it helped. “I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t apologize. You know I’ll do whatever you need.” Mal backed up, sitting at the end of the bed. “Do you wanna talk about it?” 

Evie shrugged. “It’s not worth it.” 

“It is if it’ll help you calm down.” Jay chimed in.

“You guys already know the story.” 

“Then there’s no reason to keep anything from us.” 

Evie stopped moving. She turned and stared at the three people who she trusted more than anyone else. She studied them before giving in. “My nightmare or whatever you want to call it was all about when my mom started making me ‘fuck the gay away’.” 

They all visibly tensed up. Expressions of anger and hatred stared back at her and she knew they were upset. This is why she didn’t want to tell them; it wasn’t a part of her past that she was proud of (honestly, she didn’t know if there were any parts of her past that she was proud of). 

“This is why I didn’t want to tell you.” 

“Why?” Carlos questioned. 

“Because you all get so mad.” 

“Of course we’re mad!” Jay practically shouted. Evie felt her body tense up and she had to shut her eyes, reminding herself that she was safe. She could still feel how shaky she was and she knew it would take a little while to get rid of the feeling. 

“Calm down.” Mal’s voice was icy as she spoke, but Jay listened. “E, come sit.” 

Evie hesitated for a second, but slowly came over to the bed. She sat across from Mal, keeping her hands in her lap. 

“You know we’re not mad at you, right?” 

Evie nodded. She looked over and noticed Jay’s gaze was still on her, and she could tell just by his expression that whatever he was going to say next would set her off. 

“I don’t get how you’re not more upset.” Jay huffed. 

Evie couldn’t hold it in anymore. “You don’t think I’m upset? Every time I close my eyes, I see that dark closet. I can still feel her hands yanking my hair around, and don’t even get me started about what happened when she invited her friend over. What do you want from me, Jay? Do you want me to break down in tears and hide under the bed and cry? Oh wait, I already did that yesterday.” She stood up again. “The point is that it’s over. I can’t sit and think about it because if I do, I’m never going to be able to get out of bed again. Can we just move on?” 

“Yep.” Mal answered instantly, not leaving any room for argument. She looked at Jay and Evie could feel the intenseness of her stare even though it wasn’t on her. 

“I’m sorry, E. I’m an asshole.” He apologized as he ran a hand through his hair. 

“Yeah.” She agreed. “I’m going to take a shower.” She went into the bathroom, leaving them all staring after her. 

\-----

Jay knew that he was a little hard on Evie. He hadn’t meant to be, and he didn’t want to make it seem like he blamed her for anything that happened. The days leading up to that event were so burned into his memory and they angered him quicker than anything else. 

_Jay and Carlos were alone in the clubhouse. They weren’t exactly surprised; it was common knowledge that Evie and Mal were incredibly close, and the two girls had a tendency to sneak off on their own. Jay wasn’t sure what they were doing, but he would bet anything that they weren’t stealing or terrorizing._

_He heard a rock hit the sign and then loud steps on the stairs, signaling Mal’s entrance (you could always hear Evie’s heels clicking, and Carlos’s feet dragged when he walked, so it was pretty easy to distinguish)._

_As soon as he saw Mal’s face, he knew something happened. He had never seen her look so pissed off before._

_“What’s up?” he questioned. “Did someone attack?”_

_“It’s Evie.” She explained, but didn’t offer any other details._

_Jay raised an eyebrow. “Trouble in paradise?”_

_“Her mom caught us.”_

_Jay had known the Evil Queen since he was a child. Her expectations for Evie were pretty high, and he knew that the biggest one was that she needed to find a prince and marry him. This would not go over well._

_“Maybe she didn’t notice what you were doing.”_

_“It’s pretty hard to confuse me on top of Evie with my hand up her shirt and my mouth on her neck.” Before anyone could respond, Mal punched a wall. “I’m so fucking stupid!”_

_“Relax, dude…”_

_“Don’t tell me to relax!” Mal whipped around to face him and Jay could see her eyes lighting up green. “You didn’t see the way that bitch looked at her. She hit her across the face and…”_

_“Your-your eyes.” Jay interrupted, not able to focus on her words._

_“That’s what you’re worried about!?”_

_Carlos stepped in. “She hit Evie?”_

_“Yeah, and she had a lot of names to call her too. She’s going to hurt her, I know she is.”_

_Jay shook his head. “I doubt it. You know how big EQ is on good looks; she wouldn’t want to leave bruises.”_

_Mal finally sat down in defeat. “You didn’t see her face. I fucked up, Jay. I fucked up and now Evie is going to pay for it.”_

_\-----_

_Seven days. For seven days, Jay, Mal, and Carlos rampaged by day and paced at night. They hadn’t caught a glimpse of their blue haired princess. Mal had even snuck into her bedroom window, but there was no sign of her. It was as if she suddenly disappeared._

_“I bet the bitch has her locked up in that castle somewhere.” Mal spat on the 5th day as she stared out the window. “I’ll burn the whole fucking thing to the ground.”_

_On the seventh day, they were all sitting around in silence. It didn’t feel right to talk or laugh when a member was missing, and Evie was usually the one leading the conversation anyway. They heard a noise outside that sounded like a rock hitting the wall._

_Jay tried not to get his hopes up, but he felt his heart in his stomach. Evie had terrible aim and she almost always missed the sign on the first try, but there were no heels clicking on the pavement._

_The second rock hit its target and they heard the gate start to rise. Jay was the closest to the stairs and he looked over, seeing blue hair. He ran to greet her without a second thought._

_As soon as he got within reach of her, Evie noticed him coming and was clearly startled. She slammed her body back until she was against the wall, her eyes wide as she stared at Jay. He felt sick to his stomach as he took in her appearance._

_Her hair was unbrushed and sticking up in odd places, as if someone had been grabbing it. She had on makeup, but her lipstick was smudged and her mascara was running down her cheeks. The most unsettling part was her outfit. She was in a skin tight dress that dipped low to show off more skin. Because of how revealing it was, Jay could see bruises littering her throat and chest. He looked lower and noticed blood running down Evie’s legs. She was barefoot, which explained the lack of clicking noise from her typical heels._

_“Eves?” he called out, trying not to scare her again. She had never flinched away from him before and he couldn’t live with himself if she was scared of him._

_“Hey Princess.” Jay tried not to show his surprise. He had never heard Mal’s voice so soft before, but it was obvious that Evie had because she perked up immediately. “I’m going to come closer to you, okay?” she took tentative steps towards her girlfriend. Evie started to tense up a little more with each step, so it was pretty obvious when she had finally reached her limit on personal space. “You’re okay, E. It’s just me and Jay and Carlos. We’ve been so worried about you.”_

_Evie glanced up at her, but still didn’t speak. Her eyes started to tear up as she took a few seconds to stare at each of their faces._

_“Baby, I need to know if you’re still bleeding.”_

_Evie’s eyes widened as she looked down. She saw the blood and let out a whimper before letting her back slide down the wall until she could sit. She brought her knees up to her chest, but let out a pained cry from the position._

_“Do you want to go upstairs so you can be more comfortable?” Mal asked. Evie shook her head. “Okay, then we’ll sit here.” Mal sat down across from her. Jay took the spot next to her, and Carlos moved over so he could sit next to Evie but across from Jay. She seemed completely lost in her own little world as she stared at the wall. “Hey Carlos, can you go get some warm water started and some clean clothes?” Mal finally broke the silence after a few minutes._

_“Yeah of course.” He went up the stairs without another word._

_“Evie, baby, we’re going to go upstairs. Let’s get you into something more comfortable.” Mal was still using that soft tone and it just put Jay more on edge._

_“Don’t leave me.” Evie finally spoke, her voice sounding raspy and completely raw. Jay felt like he had been punched when he realized it was probably from screaming._

_“I won’t.” Mal swore._

_The boy prepared to leave, but then Evie spoke again. “Jay, please.”_

_He nodded his head. “Of course, Princess. You’ve got me as long as you want me.”_

_“Can I help you up?” Mal wondered. Evie nodded, so she stepped forward. Jay could see the obvious pain on her face as Mal pulled her to her feet._

_Evie stopped for a second and just studied the other girl. Then, she was leaning forward and burying her face into Mal’s neck. Jay had to look away when he saw Mal bring one hand up to stroke Evie’s hair and the other to wipe a tear off her own cheek._

_They took the stairs slowly and when they got all the way up, Carlos was waiting. He had clean clothes- a sweatshirt of Mal’s, some of Jay’s sweatpants, and a pair of Carlos’s socks- and a bowl of water that he had heated up._

_“I don’t know how to do this, E. I don’t know how to make this okay.” Mal whispered._

_Evie was still leaning into her and she sighed. “Just please get me out of this dress.”_

_Mal went behind Evie to unzip her dress. Jay watched as she looked up and locked eyes with him. She kept his gaze as Mal unzipped her dress, then let it fall to the ground. Jay didn’t break eye contact until Evie finally turned back towards Mal._

_He could see the bruises even clearer now. They were spread across her back, her neck, her chest, and her stomach. He felt a sinking feeling when he realized that once the blood was gone from her thighs, they would probably be bruised up too._

_“Sit down.” Mal commanded gently as she brought Evie over to their old, beaten up couch. “I’m going to wipe you off, okay? Just keep your eyes on me.”_

_Evie nodded slowly. Mal dipped a cloth into the warm water and started on Evie’s face. She cleared away all of the makeup and Jay couldn’t help but stare; he always thought she was the most beautiful when her face was completely bare. His eyes lingered on her bruised up lips and he felt his anger flare up again._

_Mal took the cloth to Evie’s neck and chest next, then ran it down her arms and stomach. Then, she skipped down to Evie’s feet. She went up her legs inch by inch, cleaning off the dirt and blood. The closer she got to her thighs, the more agitated Evie got._

_“Do you want me to do it or do you want to?” Mal asked once she reached above Evie’s knees._

_“I don’t want you guys to see.” Evie admitted. “I don’t want you to know how disgusting I am.”_

_“You’re not disgusting.” Carlos spoke before anyone else had the chance. “We love you, Eves. No matter what happened, we love you and we’re not going anywhere.”_

_That was the first time in all of his life that Jay heard someone use the word ‘love’, but as it was spoken, he knew it was true. He did love Evie and Mal and Carlos, and he would do anything to keep them safe._

_“I love you, Evie.” He stated, giving her a smile that he hoped was reassuring._

_He watched as Mal reached up and stroked a hand over Evie’s cheek. “I love you.”_

_“I love you guys too.” Evie whimpered. “I need help. M-Mal, can you clean me off? Just you.”_

_“Whatever you need, my princess.”_

_Jay took that as a hint. Him and Carlos went over to the window, scanning over their view of the Isle. He tried to block out the sounds of Evie’s whimpers and cries behind them._

_“What the hell happened?” Carlos whispered to him._

_“I don’t know, but I swear I will torture whoever did this to her. I will kill them with my bare hands.” Jay clenched his hands into fists._

_“Calm down. I know you’re pissed, but the last thing she needs is someone being aggressive or angry around her. Take a breath.”_

_Jay followed his advice. They waited another couple minutes until Mal told them they could turn around. Evie was now dressed in clean clothes and her hair was brushed and pulled into a ponytail. Jay ran his eyes over her now exposed neck, seeing the bruises. Evie was cuddled into Mal, who wrapped their best blanket around her girlfriend and held her close._

_“Who did this?” he asked as gently as he could before sinking down to kneel in front of her._

_“Jay.” Mal scolded._

_“No. She’s ours, and we’re going to retaliate. Whoever did this will never breathe again.”_

_Evie shook her head. “There’s nothing you can do.”_

_“Like hell there isn’t!”_

_Carlos put a hand on his shoulder, and Jay remembered his previous words. One look at Evie told him that his temper was scaring her, and he took a second to get himself back in check._

_“What happened, E?” he asked instead._

_Evie smiled. Not her usual happy, blinding smile. He had never seen the girl look more heartless. “You wanna know what happened? My mother happened. She said if I want to be a dyke and a slut, then she has the perfect cure. Do you know what it is?” Jay could see the weary looks on Mal and Carlos’s faces and he knew his expression was identical. “She said I’m going to fuck the gay away, and she sold me to some guy she knows for a bracelet with a broken clasp, a basket of half-rotted fruit, and a pair of new shoes. She said it’s a win-win; I won’t be whoring myself out for no reason anymore, and I can actually show her I’m worth something.” Evie laughed, but it was dry and angry and nothing like the Evie they knew. “Isn’t that perfect?”_

_Mal stroked her cheek gently. “Baby…”_

_“After she caught us, she made me strip and then locked me in a dark closet for a week. She said I would stay there until I didn’t look like a whore anymore because there was a hickey on my neck. You know, when she opened the door to the closet, I was actually happy to see her. I hadn’t had any food or water and I thought she was going to help me, that maybe she actually cared about me. Then she told me her plan and shoved me into my bedroom and he was already there. I cried and screamed and begged, but he didn’t care, he just kept touching.” She bit her bottom lip and stared at the ground. “When it was over, she came back in and told me I didn’t please him well enough and no one wants to listen to an ugly little girl screaming in their ear.” Evie’s hand drifted to her neck. “I guess she didn’t care about him marking me up. It’s more embarrassing for me to have proof of the guy I fucked on my body than it is disappointing for her.”_

_“You didn’t fuck anyone.” Jay interrupted. “Don’t say that. This is not your fault.”_

_“But it is. I’m fucked up.”_

_“You are not fucked up.” Mal said fiercely, obviously not caring about containing her temper anymore. “Your mother is fucked up. She’s delusional.”_

_Evie just sighed and burrowed further into Mal. “I’m sorry. I shouldn’t have told you.”_

_“I’m glad you did.” Mal kissed her forehead. “I don’t care what anyone says, you are absolutely perfect and you mean everything in this world to me. I will do everything I can to protect you.”_

_Jay knew Mal would try her best, but he could also tell by Evie’s face that she knew Mal wouldn’t always be able to keep her safe. He understood in a way; Evie would always go back home to her mom, just like he always went home to his dad, even if he knew he would get beaten. It was part of the horrible cycle of trying to be loved by their parents._

_“Have you eaten?” Carlos asked._

_“I don’t think I could keep anything down.” Evie admitted._

_“You’re going to try.” Mal decided for her. Carlos went over to their stash to grab Evie some food and water. “Then, we’re going to sleep.”_

_“I don’t know if I can.”_

_“Carlos and I will take turns being on watch.” Jay told her. “You’re safe here, E.”_

_She just nodded, and it almost startled him to see the amount of trust in her eyes. Carlos returned with the food and they all watched as Evie ate it quickly. She must have really been starving because Jay had never seen her eat so fast before._

_As soon as she finished, Evie turned her body towards Mal and laid down. Mal looked around the room, then at the girl. “What do you need?”_

_“I just need you to be close to me. Hold me and don’t ever let me go.” Evie whispered._

_Mal placed a quick, gentle kiss on her lips and then laid down. Jay and Carlos took the other couch, ready to kill anyone who dared to come after their family. From now on, they couldn’t afford to be innocent kids anymore._

_It was time to grow up._

That day for Jay would probably rank up there in the top 5 worst days on the Isle. He would never forget how broken Evie had looked, but that was also when he realized how strong she could be. 

He was familiar with Evie having memories and flashbacks to horrible things that had happened. All of them were constantly fighting their demons, and they loved to come back during their sleep. He knew that it was hard to shake off the feelings that the memories brought back. 

Evie had been distant. It didn’t help that it was only Thursday; on the Isle, he didn’t think any of them had ever completed a full week of school, but here they were on day 4. Jay was exhausted and he imagined that his friends felt the same. 

The main issue with this particular memory was the distance it usually caused between Evie and Mal. The blue haired girl always pulled away from her, and Mal would let her because she blamed herself. Jay figured he would have to push them towards each other later tonight once they were all back in the dorm. 

But for now, they just had to get the rest of this school day out of the way, and then he had to go to therapy. Jay had already been nervous, but after seeing what it brought up for Evie, he was even more worried. 

“I know we told them to stop being touchy in public, but it’s weird seeing them like this.” Carlos whispered as they walked into Goodness class. 

“I’m gonna do some damage control.” Jay whispered back. They took their usual seats and then he pulled out his phone. 

_To: Mal  
How is she?_

_From: Mal  
She won’t talk about it_

_To: Mal  
Maybe you should just leave it alone_

_From: Mal  
How am I supposed to just sit here and let her tear herself apart but not talk about it? _

_To: Mal  
Honestly, what is there to say? We’ve relived this so many times and you know how she feels. Not everything needs to be a conversation_

_To: Mal  
Like you said, therapy brought up some shit. Leave it at that and just help her deal _

Jay was pretty proud of his advice. Carlos grabbed his phone from his hand and read through the messages, then gave him an approving nod. They both glanced over at the girls. 

Mal’s hand was on Evie’s back and she was scratching in small circles. The blue haired girl looked tense for a few seconds, but then she let out a sigh and leaned over, letting her head rest on Mal’s shoulder. Jay smiled; they would be okay. 

The door opened and Fairy Godmother entered, causing them all to snap back to their previous positions. They all put on their best bored and uninterested faces as the woman studied them. 

At this rate, Jay wasn’t confident that they were going to keep being able to hide secrets. At the same time, he knew he would go down trying his best to keep his family safe, and that meant protecting those secrets. 

He glanced over at Mal, who gave him a half smirk in thanks. He just nodded his head, then caught Evie’s eye and gave her a full smile. She returned a small one right as he felt Carlos squeeze his arm. 

Yeah, he would do anything for them.


	8. Wound Up

Evie was grateful that in Auradon, they didn’t have school on the weekends. It was now Friday, so after today, they could just rest. It was an added bonus that no one had a therapy appointment today. She couldn’t wait to just get back to the dorm and sleep. 

Her body felt more and more sluggish as the day went on. Luckily, Mal and the boys backed off about her memory yesterday. She was surprised; normally, Mal would force her into talking about it. At this point, they had discussed it so many times that there wasn’t ever really anything to add. She was sick of talking in circles, so when Mal just pulled her closer instead of talking, she let her. 

First period was easy enough. Evie sat in the back of the classroom between Mal and Carlos. She noticed that her girlfriend seemed distracted. She kept her gaze on Mal until she looked back, then furrowed her eyebrows. Mal gave her a small smile and turned the sketchbook she was hiding under the desk so that Evie could see it. She had drawn a portrait of Evie, and the blue haired girl couldn’t help but blush. Seeing Mal’s drawings of her always took her breath away- Mal’s view of her was so beautiful and she wished she could live up to it. 

When the bell rang, Evie felt her heart drop into her stomach. She didn’t want to be away from Mal. She hadn’t particularly loved being in class without the others the other days this week, but today, the feeling was even more intense. As they stood, she bit her lip anxiously and shoved her notebook into her bag. 

“What’s wrong?” Mal asked quietly, trying not to draw attention. Jay and Carlos were both always so in tune with their girls that they heard her immediately, and suddenly Evie had three pairs of eyes on her. 

“Nothing.” She tried to answer as she slung her bag over her shoulder and walked towards the door. She could hear their footsteps behind her- Mal’s intentional stomps to assert power, Carlos’s unintentional dragging of his feet, and Jay’s smooth and calculated steps. As soon as they got into the hallway, Mal’s hand went to the small of her back. 

“What’s wrong?” she repeated, staring into Evie’s eyes. 

That’s when the bubbling in her stomach started. Evie bit her lip harder, trying to wish away the feeling. 

Mal ran her finger along Evie’s lip, pulling it out from beneath her teeth. “You’re going to make yourself bleed. I can see how tense you are, E. Something’s up.” 

Evie’s eyes darted around the hallways. She saw the students walking towards their classes, dodging the group of VKs as they went into the door they had just come out of. Carlos’s eyes were big and concerned, Jay was frowning and had his arms out to his sides protectively, and Mal was just staring at her as if she could read her mind. 

She couldn’t stop the whimper that escaped her even if she tried. That set the other three off and they immediately went on the defensive, ready to attack anyone that dared to make her upset. 

How could Evie explain to them that even _she_ didn’t know why she was upset? 

She focused her attention on Mal. If she told her what she was thinking, she would stop at nothing to make her happy. While that was nice, Evie also understood it was a problem. Mal couldn’t skip class without drawing attention to herself, and she didn’t want Mal to get in trouble. 

“I’ll be okay.” She tried to say. 

“Not good enough. What’s going on in your head?” 

Evie’s body betrayed her again when she felt her hands start to tremble. She cursed herself for immediately looking down at them, because then Mal was looking too, and then she was reaching out to hold her hands. 

“We’re not supposed to touch. Boys’ rules.” Evie reminded her. 

“I don’t give a fuck.” Mal said harshly. “I’m not leaving until I know what’s wrong.” Her thumb traced over Evie’s hand until she found her wrist. She pressed down gently against the underside of it and Evie melted; Mal knew all the things she did to try and calm herself down and she was never scared to try them, even when Evie wouldn’t admit she needed it.

She could tell it was getting closer to when the bell would ring because there were less people in the hallway. The thought of being late and drawing attention to herself when she walked in the classroom made her stomach bubble even more. But when she looked into the green eyes she loved so much, she knew that she was going to tell her whether she wanted to or not. 

“I don’t wanna leave you.” Evie admitted as she stared at the ground. 

Mal softened instantly. “It’s going to be okay. You have this class, then one with Carlos, and then we’ll all be together.” 

Evie was usually pretty good about resisting her urges to touch Mal in public, but she couldn’t help it. She stepped forward and buried her face in Mal’s neck. 

“You’re okay.” Mal rubbed her back.

“We have two minutes until class starts.” Carlos stated. 

“Do you want to skip and go back to the dorm?” Mal whispered. 

There was nothing Evie wanted more, but they needed to do this. She reminded herself that she only had to get through today and then they would be alone for two days. 

“We can’t.” Evie sighed. 

“C’mon, I’ll walk you to class.” 

“Your class is on the other side of the building. You’ll be late.”

“Once again, I don’t give a fuck.” Mal squeezed her in a quick hug and then Evie reluctantly lifted her head up. “Let’s go.” She said a little louder to let the boys know that they were also supposed to be listening. 

“Everything good?” Jay questioned, his eyes landing on Evie. 

She just nodded her head. Carlos had to go a different way to his class, so he left first. Evie had Mal and Jay on either side of her, and while she usually felt suffocated by their overprotectiveness, right now she was fine with it. 

When they got to Jay’s class, he looked at her. “If anything happens, I’m a few doors away. Text me and I’ll be there.”

Evie just nodded to show her understanding. With every footstep she took, she felt her heart beat a little faster. She gripped Mal’s hand tightly. 

“I don’t know what’s wrong with me.” She said. “How do I make it stop?”

Mal frowned. “Make what stop?”

Evie grabbed her hand and pressed it against her chest. She could tell by Mal’s expression that she felt her racing heart. 

“Just breathe for me, Princess. You’re okay.” Mal kept one hand over her heart and lifted the other to stroke her cheek. Evie shut her eyes and took some deep breaths.

Right as she calmed down, the bell rang. She let out a tiny squeak as the sound startled her. “Now I’m late. I don’t want them to look at me.”

Before she could stop her, Mal busted into the classroom, effectively drawing everyone’s attention to her.

The teacher looked at her in confusion. “Mal, what are you doing here? You don’t have history until 5th period.” 

“Oh, must have mixed up my schedule.” 

Evie used the distraction to slide past her girlfriend and into the room. She saw that the only open seat was next to Chad and held in her groan. She sat down and then looked up, seeing Mal looking at her. The purple haired girl raised an eyebrow, and Evie gave her one nod in response. Mal left the room. 

Not even a minute later, Evie’s phone vibrated. She slid it into her lap so she could read the message. 

_From: Mal  
Only a few more classes and then we won’t have to deal with this for two days _

_From: Mal  
You are so strong, my Princess. You have my entire heart_

_To: Mal  
And you have mine. Thank you for taking care of it the way you do_

Evie sighed and stared at the clock. Only a little longer until she would be with Carlos, and then Mal and Jay. 

“Hey gorgeous, can I borrow a pencil?” 

She reached into her bag and handed him one without a word, hoping that would encourage him not to respond. Of course, that didn’t work. 

“Thank you, my Queen.” 

When Evie heard Chad’s voice, she felt a chill go down her spine. “Don’t call me that.” She snapped. 

He grinned. “You like my other nicknames better? Alright, I’ll just call you sexy from now on.” 

Evie couldn’t resist rolling her eyes that time. Chad just laughed and turned back to his book. 

When the bell rang, Evie shoved her books into her bag as quickly as she could. She hoped that she could get out of the room before Chad had the chance to follow her. 

“Hey, wait up!” he called after her. Evie groaned, realizing luck was not going to be on her side today. “You know, there’s no school tomorrow and that would be the perfect chance for me to take you out. I know you don’t have a lot of friends here, so I want to be your first.” 

“I don’t know, Chad, I…” before she could come up with a lie, she spotted Carlos coming towards her. The other days this week, he had waited for her outside of their math classroom. Today, he must have been walking towards her because he met her halfway. She would never say it out loud, but she appreciated Carlos’s quiet concern. “Oh, there’s Carlos, gotta go!” she speeded up her pace so she could join the boy. 

“You good?” he asked, scanning over her face quickly. 

“Mmhmm, let’s go.” She hooked her arm through his and they walked together to math. Evie was never excited to see Mr. Reynolds, but right now, his face was more welcomed than Chad’s. They sat in their seats quickly and got ready to stay silent for the rest of the period; they had learned that if they didn’t speak or draw attention to themselves, Mr. Reynolds was a little easier on them. 

Finally, something good happened and they ended up having to do a review packet. They were allowed to work with partners, so Evie and Carlos worked together to get their stuff done. She was so focused that she didn’t even realize class was over when the bell rang. 

“Come on, E.” Carlos nudged her. 

Evie couldn’t help but smile. It was time to see Mal, and she couldn’t wait. She put all of her stuff back into her pink backpack and then stood, hoping that the rest of the day would pass as quickly as math class.

\-----

When it was time for 3rd period, Mal moved quickly through the halls. Typically, she was the first one outside of Goodness class each day, and today was the same. Jay joined her a few seconds later and they both stared in the direction they knew Evie and Carlos would be coming from. 

“What’s up with E?” Jay wondered. 

“No clue. She seemed okay this morning, but she got so upset out of nowhere. It’s so hard to get into her head lately.” Mal’s eyes landed on blue and then her focus was glued onto her beautiful girlfriend. Evie looked up at her and a small smile was on her face. Mal smiled back without hesitation.

As soon as Evie was close enough, Mal gave her a hug. She could feel the boys brushing against her arm and she knew they were standing in front of them so that less people would see. She was torn between appreciating the privacy and being annoyed.

“Gorgeous.” Mal whispered into her ear. 

“Why does it sound so much better when you say it?” 

Mal pulled back slightly so she could study Evie’s face. She immediately looked at her eyes, knowing they could tell her the information she wanted to know. She looked calm, maybe a little irritated, but obviously much better than earlier. 

“Is Chad still bothering you?” 

Evie rolled her eyes. “Of course.” 

“You want me to talk to him?”

“No, M. I can handle it.”

“Let me know when that changes.” Mal clenched her jaw. “Actually, maybe I’ll decide that for myself…” 

“Come on.” Evie squeezed her hand, then led the way into Goodness class. The four of the took their seats, watching as Fairy Godmother wrote on the chalkboard.

Mal tuned out as FG went on and on about manners. She looked over at Evie, seeing that she was sitting perfectly straight with her eyes focused on the board. She decided it was time for a little distraction. 

Mal grabbed Evie’s hand, pulling it over into her lap. The other girl raised an eyebrow at her in question, but didn’t move. Mal turned her hand so her palm was facing up and started to trace letters onto her skin. 

After she was finished, Evie gasped. “I know exactly what you wrote!” she whisper-yelled. 

Mal smirked. “So what do you think?” 

“I would never, _ever_ let you do that.” 

Mal laughed, then realized her mistake. When she looked up, Fairy Godmother and the boys were all staring at her. 

“Is there something funny about proper table etiquette?” Fairy Godmother demanded. 

“Nope, continue.” 

Now it was Evie who was struggling to hold in her laugh. Mal just rolled her eyes and tried to pay attention. 

This was their 5th day going to school in Auradon, so by now Mal was used to Evie’s halfway-through-the-day-mood-shift. She had figured out that it was triggered by lunch time and it always became noticeable towards the end of 4th period. They had known each other for so long that Mal could see her girl’s tells from a mile away- bouncing legs, biting her lip, squeezing her wrist, pinching her arm or thigh, staring at the clock… 

It was time for some damage control.

“I can’t wait until class is over.” Mal whispered to Evie, who looked over at her. “I just want to sit and talk with you.” 

Evie gave her a small smile. “Me too.” 

“Maybe we should kick the boys out tonight. It’s been so long since we were alone, and I want to do whatever I want to you without Jay’s comments.” 

Evie’s cheeks flushed and Mal smirked, counting it as a win. It could be hard to fluster her smooth talking girlfriend, but sometimes she managed it. 

The bell rang and they all started to pack up. After Evie finished putting her books in her bags, Mal reached out for it. 

“It’s okay, M. It’s not very heavy.” 

“You sure?”

“She’s sure.” Jay interrupted. “Go.” 

They walked out of the classroom and towards the cafeteria. Any trace of a smile was gone from Evie’s face and her pace slowed. 

“Just one thing.” Mal told her. “You don’t have to do anything else. Just eat one thing.” 

They went to the line together. Mal looked around, but wasn’t sure what to choose. She ended up grabbing a few things. When she looked at Evie’s tray, she saw that it was still empty. 

“You want me to choose for you?” Mal wondered. She had a theory that half of Evie’s problem was choosing what to eat. Sometimes if she had someone else grab her food for her, she actually sat and ate it instead of overthinking. Evie nodded, so Mal ended up grabbing her grilled chicken and some fresh broccoli. “I know I said one thing, but you don’t have to eat it all.”

Mal and Evie went over to a table to sit down. Mal realized they forgot silverware, so she put her tray down. “I’ll be right back.”

She had to maneuver around a couple groups of kids, so it took her a second. When she turned around, she was surprised to see that there were more people at their table. She frowned when she saw that Chad was sitting next to Evie. 

Mal stormed over to the table, hoping that would be enough to scare him away. Right before she could get there, Ben walked over and took the seat on Evie’s other side.

“You’re in my seat.” She stated as she stood next to Chad. She looked at Evie, who looked even more uncomfortable than she did before. 

“Yeah, we don’t actually have assigned seats in Auradon.” 

“Did you not see my tray?” this was one thing she wouldn’t back down on. Evie already struggled enough to eat and she wouldn’t make her sit and eat next to someone who had been harassing her all week. 

“Why don’t you sit across from us, Mal? They’re all empty.” Ben asked, trying to smooth things over. 

Carlos came over a second later and he automatically froze. Mal knew he had probably noticed her tension and she wondered how he would respond. 

“What’s up?” Jay questioned as he joined them. 

“Chad took my seat.” Mal informed the boys. “I was sitting next to Evie.” 

“Here, take my seat instead.” Ben hopped up, moving around the table before she could refuse. Mal wasn’t happy about it, and she let Chad know by bumping into him as she walked past. She sat on Evie’s other side with Ben across from her, Jay across from Evie, and Carlos across from Chad. 

The next one to join them was Lonnie, who sat next to Carlos. Audrey came over with her tray and eyed them all with disgust. 

“You’re sitting here?” she spat, her focus on Ben. 

Mal studied the two of them. Their relationship confused her- Ben didn’t seem like he was particularly interested in the girl, and Audrey was just a little too jealous and overbearing. 

“Yes. Want to join us?” he asked, giving her a smile. 

Audrey sighed, but sat next to Chad. Now that everyone was settling down and starting to eat, Mal figured it was time for her to step in. She looked up, staring at Jay until he finally seemed to notice. He lifted his head and made eye contact with her, then cocked his head to the side to silently ask what she wanted. She tilted her head towards Evie and he seemed to get the hint. 

“So, Ben’s been talking to me about Tourney. Do a lot of people play here, or do they just watch?” 

“Do they play!?” Chad practically shouted, causing Evie to flinch. “Tourney is the biggest sport at the school. Alright, let me explain it to you…” 

As Chad launched off into a tangent, effectively grabbing everyone at the table’s attention, Mal reached a hand out to Evie. She set it on her knee and squeezed gently. 

“You gonna take a bite?” she prodded.

Evie’s sigh sounded absolutely exhausted. She took her knife and fork out of the package and started to cut her chicken into tiny pieces. Mal got started on her own food so Evie didn’t feel like she was being watched. When the entire piece of grilled chicken was cut, Evie stabbed a piece with her fork and reluctantly brought it to her lips. 

Mal watched as she chewed and chewed and chewed. She wasn’t sure why Evie did it, but lately she had been noticing that Evie always cut her food up and she always ate each piece so slowly. Maybe she thought that it would take her so long that lunch would end and she wouldn’t have to eat as much? 

Evie got a piece of broccoli on her fork next. She took a bite and as soon as she did it, Mal could tell that something was wrong. Evie’s face scrunched up for a second, and then her eyes darted around the room, as if she was checking to see if anyone had noticed. She chewed excruciatingly slow, then swallowed. She looked around at the table and Mal wondered what she was searching for. 

Without even taking his eyes off of Chad, Jay nudged his drink over to her. That’s when it hit Mal- Evie didn’t like the broccoli, and she wanted a drink to get rid of the taste. She gratefully grabbed his cup of juice and took a small sip. 

“No broccoli.” Mal whispered after she was finished. “Got it.” 

Evie cracked a small smile, but it was gone as quickly as it came. She ate another piece of chicken, then used her fork to push around the rest of the pieces, swirling them into different formations on her plate. 

Mal glanced at the others. Lonnie and Audrey had joined in on Chad’s story, offering their own opinions every so often. Carlos and Jay watched them with what looked like undivided attention, but she could see the way Jay’s fingers tapped on the table and how Carlos’s eyes darted too quickly between the three Auradon teenagers. When Mal looked at Ben, she was surprised to see him looking at Evie. 

Mal frowned. Why was the king so interested? Did he notice Evie struggling? Did he see her weakness? She couldn’t let that happen. She waved her hand under the table and seconds later, a commotion started on the other side of the cafeteria. 

“What’s going on?” Ben asked, interrupting the rest of the table’s conversation. They all craned their necks to get a better look. 

“It looks like some cups fell and broke.” Audrey stated, then shook her head. “Clumsy cafeteria workers.” 

Mal looked to Evie, then nodded at her food. The blue haired girl understood the signal and ate two pieces of chicken this time. She glanced at the boys and saw they were looking at her, seemingly realizing that she had been responsible for breaking the cups. 

“So you never answered me before. When are you gonna let me take you out, sexy?” 

Mal’s head snapped to the side, her entire body filled with rage at the sound of Chad’s voice. Not only was he talking to her girl, but he was being disrespectful to her. 

Before Mal could respond, Audrey beat her to the punch. “Seriously, Chad? Out of all the girls you have falling at your feet, you choose a princess wannabe?”

“What’s wrong, Audrey? You jealous?” Mal asked in a fake sweet voice, hoping it covered the rage lying underneath. 

Chad rolled his eyes. “Ignore them. What do you say, Evie? Want to grab something to eat tomorrow?” 

“Sorry Chad, I have plans.” Evie answered, her voice strong and leaving no room for argument. Mal didn’t love that she apologized, but she was happy that she shut him down. 

“ _You_ have plans?” Audrey scoffed. “You know three people here, what could you possibly be doing? You should feel honored that a prince wants to take you out.” 

“Not that it’s any of your business, but Evie has plans with me.” Lonnie interrupted. 

Audrey turned to the other girl in shock, her mouth falling open. “You are hanging out with them?” 

“Yep.” Lonnie answered simply. “They’re cool.” 

“WE are cool!” Audrey shouted, stomping her foot under the table. 

“Alright, it’s almost time for class.” Ben interrupted as he jumped up and came over to his girlfriend. 

Mal felt Evie tense up and she turned her head, seeing that Chad had put his hand on hers. “You’re really going to keep playing hard to get?”

Evie yanked her hand away. “I told you I’m busy.” 

“You’ll give in one day.”

“She won’t.” Mal, Jay, and Carlos answered in unison. One look towards the boys told Mal that they were fuming as much as she was. 

“Come on, E.” Mal practically ordered. She stood first, moving her body so that Evie could get out of her chair on her side instead of next to Chad. She blocked Evie from him, then leaned down to grab her backpack so she wouldn’t have to get close. Jay and Carlos followed her lead and they left the cafeteria. 

Mal realized Evie hadn’t eaten much, but she couldn’t leave her sitting there next to that asshole. Once the four of them found a place where no one else was standing, she spoke. 

“Say the word and I’ll break his hand for touching you.” She said through gritted teeth. 

Evie sighed. “Mal, calm down.” 

“Is that how he always acts with you?”

“Usually he just calls me a bunch of nicknames. That was the first time he’s touched me.” She explained. 

Mal began to pace. “I’ll rip his throat out, and then I’m going after Audrey next. I don’t know who that bitch thinks she is, but…” 

“Babe, I’m fine.” Evie interrupted. “I couldn’t care less about what she said.”

“Lonnie stuck up for you.” Jay pointed out. “What’s that about?”

“I don’t know. We haven’t talked since I did her measurements. I think she’s just a nice person.” Evie reached her hand out towards Mal, but the purple haired girl didn’t know what she wanted. “Can I have my backpack?”

“Oh, yeah.” She passed it to her. 

Evie shut her eyes for a second and took a deep breath. The bell rang, signaling that lunch was over and they needed to get to 5th period. Evie would be on her own for the rest of the day, and Mal wasn’t thrilled about that based on how things had been going so far today. 

“I’m fine.” Evie repeated, giving Mal a reassuring smile. “Only three more classes.” 

“Text me.”

“I will. Bye boys.” She turned and walked away. 

Mal’s head hurt from thinking about this day. She couldn’t wait for it to be over so they could just relax. 

She led the way to history, which she shared with Carlos and Jay. She took a desk in the back row, Carlos sat next to her, and Jay sat next to him.

“What’s up with Evie today?” Carlos asked. “It’s like she’s bouncing back and forth.”

“I think she’s just tired from this week.” Mal truly hoped that that was it. She knew Evie was struggling, but she was praying that would lessen as they settled in in Auradon.

History passed quickly, and then she went to Magical Control. When she saw the name on her schedule on the first day, it sounded cool, but she quickly realized it was the opposite. It was just her and Fairy Godmother one-on-one where the older woman tried to teach her how to contain her magical urges. 

“You’ve almost finished a whole week of school in Auradon, dear. How are you feeling?” Fairy Godmother asked once they had sat down. 

“Never better.” Mal deadpanned. It seemed pretty obvious to her that Fairy Godmother didn’t like them, so she wasn’t going to sugarcoat things. 

“Classes are going well?” 

“Yep.” 

“Is anyone bothering you?” 

Mal studied her. “What would you do if they were?” 

“That sort of behavior is unacceptable. I would handle it at once.” 

“But how? Would you give them a detention?” 

Fairy Godmother looked at her for a few seconds. As the time passed, Mal got more and more uncomfortable. She hated being scrutinized. 

“What?” she demanded. 

“How did they punish students who misbehaved at your old school?” 

Mal actually laughed. “They didn’t. Misbehavior was encouraged.” 

“It seems like it would be tough for you all to learn anything.”

“Education wasn’t really the priority.” 

“But you and your friends are very intelligent.” 

Mal rolled her eyes. “What are you trying to get from your flattery?”

“I’m telling you the truth, Mal. The four of you are very smart, in many different ways.” 

“Evie and Carlos are smart.” Mal stated. 

“But so are you and Jay. I see the way you respond to each other, how you observe everyone around you. Intelligence isn’t just what you gain from a book, Mal. It can be how you react to the environment around you, how you socialize with people, how you handle things that happen to you.” 

Mal felt the warning bells start to go off. Fairy Godmother was digging; for what, she didn’t know, but she wasn’t going to let it go any further. “Don’t you tell us all the time in Goodness class that school is not social hour?” 

Fairy Godmother cocked her head slightly to the side, as if she caught on to the fact that Mal knew she was analyzing her, and then smiled. “So you do listen to my lessons.” 

“Sometimes.” 

“See, I told you. You’re intelligent.” Fairy Godmother just smiled again. “Since you wanted to learn so badly, let’s get to work.”

Mal’s last class of the day was math with Jay. It was actually her favorite class because Mr. Reynolds was so easy to rile up. It only took one comment to send him over the edge, and it was even worse that she and Jay played so well off of one another because it really pissed him off. 

As soon as she sat down, she felt her phone vibrate in her pocket. She saw her girlfriend’s name and opened it quickly. 

_From: Evie  
I miss you_

_To: Evie  
Only one more class, Princess_

_From: Evie  
Don’t get detention_

_To: Evie  
I won’t, I’ve got plans after school_

_From: Evie  
Oh really?_

_To: Evie  
Yeah, there’s this really hot girl from my English class that I’m meeting up with _

_From: Evie  
What are you going to do with this hot girl? _

_To: Evie  
Mmmm, I don’t know. Cuddle, make out for a little bit, the usual_

_From: Evie  
Mal Bertha, you’re a busy girl! _

_From: Evie  
I’m gonna leave you alone, I don’t want you to get in trouble. See you soon, my love_

_To: Evie  
Can’t wait, baby_

Jay shoved her arm. “Quit smiling at your phone. You look like an idiot.” 

“Wow, I was just thinking the same thing about you.” 

“That was weak.” 

“So are you. Look at your arms, you’re losing muscle.” Mal teased. “Now stop talking to me, I don’t want detention today.” 

Mal nearly groaned when Mr. Reynolds told them they would be doing a review packet with partners. She and Jay worked together, but they were both struggling. Jay was okay at math, but Mal sucked, so it was taking them a while to work through the problems. 

Finally, the bell rang and it was time for the weekend. Mal jumped up and shoved the packet into her backpack, figuring that they could just ask Evie or Carlos for help later if they really needed to. 

Every day after school, they met at the front of the school (depending on who had therapy). Mal and Jay got there first, then Carlos. As soon as Evie turned around the corner, Mal could tell she was upset. She abandoned the boys and stormed over to her, ready to murder whoever hurt her. 

“What’s wrong?” she asked, putting her hands on Evie’s shoulders and scanning her for injuries. 

“Lonnie got the materials from her mom and now she wants to meet me at her dorm.” Evie explained miserably, her arms crossing over her chest. “I just want to go to our dorm.” 

“Tell her no.” Mal said simply. 

“I can’t, she’s giving me money to have this stuff done.” Evie bit her lip. “I’m so tired.” 

“Ask her if she can meet tomorrow instead.” She compromised. 

“Hey guys!” Mal looked over, seeing Lonnie approaching. She turned back to Evie, seeing her girlfriend slip back into her careful mask, hiding her true feelings. “You ready, Evie?”

“Yes, let’s go.” She gave Mal a sad smile and then walked away with the other girl. 

“Fuck.” Mal whispered before going back over to the boys. They must have been watching because they both stared at her when she returned. The three of them started walking towards the dorms. 

“Where is she going?” Carlos wondered. 

“To get the materials for Lonnie’s clothes from her dorm.” 

“Shouldn’t one of us go with her?” Jay asked as he held open the door to their dorm building. 

Mal sighed. “She’ll be okay.” She led the way into the staircase to go up to the dorm room.

“Why do you look so upset?” 

“Because she didn’t want to go.” 

Jay frowned. “Uh, explain to me again why we’re not following her?”

“Because I don’t know what the fuck to do, Jay!” Mal finally shouted. “Her moods have been bouncing back and forth so quickly that I don’t know what she needs. One minute she’s our Evie, and the next she’s upset. She still jumps every time the bell rings, she’s constantly tired, she’s moody, she’s emotional, and I don’t know if you noticed, but she only ate four tiny bites of chicken today at lunch.”

“I noticed.” Jay said, his voice echoing slightly in the empty stairwell. “Why are you losing it right now?” 

“What if leaving the Isle was the wrong choice?” Mal’s voice was quiet and as soon as the words left her lips, she was met with silence. 

“Huh?” Jay was the one to finally speak. 

“Evie is a mess. If we hadn’t of left the Isle…”

“What, Mal?” Carlos demanded. “If we hadn’t left the Isle, Evie would still be miserable. We would all be miserable. Before we came here, Evie had to starve herself because there wasn’t enough food to go around, and because her mother would have done way worse if she didn’t. It’s shitty, but it’s reality. Not eating is nothing new for her, and I know it’s hard to watch her only eat a few bites, but at least she’s eating anything. Do you not remember when she would go days without even taking a bite because her mother told her she had to lose weight? I’ll take Evie eating four bites of chicken over that any day.” 

Mal sighed as the three of them walked into the dorm room. She knew realistically that he was right, but the situation still made her feel helpless. “What am I supposed to do?”

“You back off and let her handle things the way she needs to. You know that Evie has always been a highly emotional person, and she’s going through a lot right now. Out of the four of us, she has the most to lose if our plan doesn’t work. I’m sure that’s not helping how stressed she is, and you know as well as I do that when Evie is stressed, she can’t function.”

Mal nodded. “You’re right.” 

“Bottom line is that on the Isle, we didn’t have anything to help us with our issues. Now, we have the supplies we need to get better. Evie has food and she’s safe, and even if it doesn’t seem like it now because she’s a mess, things will be better in the long run.” 

“Thanks, C.” Mal didn’t hug often (Evie being the only exception, of course), but she stepped forward and gave the boy a quick hug. 

As soon as they pulled apart, the door opened. Evie walked in and her entire stance screamed how tense she was. She was holding bundles of fabric, which she dropped onto her desk and then went over to sit at the end of her bed. Mal took one look at her and could tell how off she was. 

She thought back to Carlos’s words. Evie did struggle with being stressed, and this week had been one of the most stressful of their lives. Maybe if she helped her deal with that, the rest of the issues would sort themselves out eventually. 

“Hey baby?” she called. 

Evie looked up at her and Mal could see the exhaustion in her beautiful features. “What?”

“It’s been a really hard week, huh?”

Evie sighed. “Yeah M, it has.” 

Mal went over and kneeled down in front of her. She grabbed both of her hands, pressing a kiss to the top of one. “The only thing I want to do is take a bath with you, cuddle, and go to bed early. How does that sound?”

Evie’s eyes drifted shut. “Amazing.”

Mal stood, then pulled Evie to her feet. She led her to the bathroom and shut and locked the door behind them. They had yet to take a bath in Auradon (it was just such a waste of water), but Mal couldn’t bring herself to care. She turned on the faucet and shoved a stopper into the drain.

“Arms up, baby girl.” She whispered, not needing to speak louder because of their close proximity. Evie lifted her arms and Mal pulled her sweater over her head, then her undershirt. Her fingers went to Evie’s pants next and she unbuttoned them, letting them fall to the ground. 

Evie kicked them to the side, then unbuttoned Mal’s pants. She pulled her shirt off too so now they were both staring at each other in only their bras and underwear. 

Mal leaned in and gave her a kiss, trying to communicate how much she loved her without using words. When she pulled back, she rubbed her nose against Evie’s. 

Evie just leaned forward and let her head rest on Mal’s shoulder. Mal took the opportunity to unhook the taller girl’s bra, and then she helped her out of her underwear. Mal took off the rest of her own clothes too. 

“Hair up or down?” 

“I don’t care.” Evie whispered. 

“Come here.” Mal led her over to the tub. She stepped into the water, letting out a hum as the heat soothed her muscles. She sat down slowly and settled into the water. 

The tub was large and could easily fit multiple people, so she knew it wouldn’t be an issue. Mal held her arms up towards her girlfriend. Evie got into the water, then turned around and sat down. Mal spread her legs so Evie could fit between them. She wrapped her arms around her and pulled her close until Evie’s back was against her chest. 

“There you go, Pretty Girl.” She pressed a quick kiss to her neck. “It’s time to calm down now. I’ve got you.” 

All at once, it was like the tension left Evie’s body. She let out a big sigh and then rested all of her weight against Mal. True to her word, she kept her arms around her waist and supported her. Evie’s head lolled back against her shoulder and her eyes shut. 

Mal wasn’t sure how long they had been sitting there. All she could hear was the gentle inhale and exhale of Evie’s breathing, and it soothed her more than anything else. She peppered light kisses against her face, neck, and shoulder every few moments, feeling her heart swell every time Evie’s let out a content little sigh.

She could tell already that Evie was so much calmer, and she was finally starting to unwind. Mal made a promise to herself right then that she would do little things like this to get Evie to calm down more often so she didn’t reach the point where she was about to have a meltdown. 

“M?” Evie called out quietly. 

“Hmmm?” 

“I’m sorry for being so weird lately.” 

“E, you’re stressed and you’re adjusting. It’s okay for you to be a little upset while you’re trying to get used to Auradon.” 

“I know, but I hate it. I hate feeling like this.” She turned her head slightly, nuzzling into Mal’s neck. 

“I’m sorry, baby.” Mal kissed her forehead. “I know things have been hard.” 

“You know, you are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” 

Mal raised an eyebrow. “You sure about that?” 

Evie nodded. “One hundred percent. Without you, I don’t even think I would be alive. You listen to me and keep me sane and you love me; I definitely never knew what that felt like before you.” 

Mal tightened her arms around her. “Same for you. You are the one who taught me what love is. I know I don’t say it enough, but I love you, Evie. I love you with my entire heart and soul, and I will do anything for you. What do you need to feel better? Just say the word and it’s done.” 

Evie whimpered. “I don’t know, and that’s the scary part. On the Isle, things were so much easier. I feel like I don’t even know myself anymore.” 

“You’re Evie.” Mal whispered. “You love fashion, and you’re the best designer to ever walk this planet. You are the best at stitching in our crew, and even people from the outside come to you to have you patch them up. You are the smartest fucking person I’ve ever met, and your brain works in ways that mine could never compete with. You know how to calculate risks, and you organize a plan _almost_ better than me.” She teased, making her girlfriend smile. “You love laughing and leather and children and the color blue and pineapples. Your smile can light up an entire room, and you know how to read people so easily. You were born to a woman who wasn’t worthy of breathing the same air as you, and so many things have happened to you that you didn’t deserve. But Evie, you are strong. You know how to take the negative and spin it into a positive thing. I know you’re going through a lot here and your head is all over the place, but I also know that you’re going to get through this. You know how I know?” 

Evie’s voice was tiny when she responded. “How?” 

“Because when you’re too tired to fight, I’ll be right there behind you to take on your battles for you.” 

Evie sat up, shifting her body so she could face Mal. She leaned forward and smashed their lips together. Mal kissed back immediately, fighting her for control before eventually winning. She scooted up and pulled Evie onto her lap. She would have kept kissing her for forever, but her lungs were begging for air, so she separated and rested their foreheads together. 

“I love you.” Evie whispered, not needing to talk any louder because of how close they were.

“I love you.” Mal repeated. “You are my entire world, Evie. You are _everything_.” 

Evie let out a quiet whimper as tears started to slip down her cheeks. Mal just held her closer and let her get her feelings out. She rubbed her back and kept her close so she knew she was still there. 

After a little while, Evie was calmer and the water had gotten cold. Mal pressed another kiss to Evie’s lips and then helped her stand. She pulled the plug on the drain and then turned on the shower. 

They both squealed when the water came out cold at first, then burst out laughing. As the water warmed up, they scooted under the spray and got their hair wet. 

“Let me.” Mal offered, grabbing the shampoo and squirting a generous amount into her hand. She rubbed it into Evie’s hair, starting at her scalp and moving down to the ends. One of Mal’s favorite things about Evie was her hair, and she always made sure to be careful with it. “Lean back and rinse.” 

After Evie finished rinsing out the shampoo, Mal put some conditioner into her hand and ran it through the ends of Evie’s hair. She let her rinse that out while she lathered up some soap on a cloth. Then, she washed Evie’s body for her. 

“My turn.” Evie repeated the same process on Mal, and she just closed her eyes and relaxed. When she finished up, Evie pressed a kiss to Mal’s cheek. “All done.” 

“Is it bad that I want to just stay here forever with you?” Mal asked as she pulled her closer. 

“No, because I feel the same way.” Evie leaned against her.

They stood under the water and held each other until it finally turned cold. Mal was no stranger to a cold shower since that’s what they had grown up with on the Isle, but it wasn’t exactly relaxing. She reached behind her and shut the water off. 

Mal reached out and grabbed their towels. She handed Evie’s to her first, then took her own. They dried off in a comfortable silence before exiting the bathroom, their hair still dripping wet. 

Mal was surprised that there was no comment from Jay, but she figured that even he wasn’t stupid enough to say something that would wind Evie back up. Mal led her girlfriend to their walk-in closet. 

“Can I wear your sweater?” Evie asked. 

“You can wear whatever you want, baby. You don’t have to wear anything if you don’t want to.”

Evie rolled her eyes. “Yeah, I’m sure Carlos and Jay would appreciate that.” 

Mal smiled. “They have a dorm of their own.” She pulled Evie into her and gave her one kiss, then another, letting their lips linger. When they separated, she handed over the dark purple sweater that Evie had made for her. 

Evie slid on a pair of underwear, then pulled the sweater over her head. Mal put on a pair of pants and a long sleeved shirt, then followed her girlfriend into the room. 

“I grabbed dinner.” Jay announced, gesturing towards Mal’s desk. “Grab whatever you guys want.” 

Mal watched Evie carefully, and she was relieved to see zero stress on her girlfriend’s face. Evie walked over to the desk and selected macaroni and cheese, then went to sit next to the boys on the couch. Mal chose some type of pasta with red sauce on it. 

“What’s this?” she questioned. 

“Spaghetti.” Jay answered. “It’s the special today.” He and Carlos raced over to the desk after they saw that the girls were done. 

Mal sat next to Evie, smiling at the blue haired girl. “Can I try yours?” 

“Mmhmm.” Evie got some of it onto a fork and held it out, letting Mal take a bite. 

Her eyes widened. “That’s so good.” 

Evie smiled. “You think everything is good.” 

“I haven’t had anything I don’t like yet.” Mal agreed, before taking a bite of her spaghetti. “Oh my God, this is amazing!” Evie laughed. “Wanna try it?”

“A tiny bite.” Evie gave in. Mal did her best to grab a bite on her fork, but the noodles kept sliding off. Finally, she managed to get one and fed it to Evie. “Yeah, that’s good.”

“So we found out this week that you like macaroni and cheese, strawberries, spaghetti, pizza, yogurt, and some sandwiches. That’s amazing, Princess!” 

Even Evie smiled a little bit and Mal hoped that this would mean the progress would continue. The boys rejoined them and they all ate together, laughing at Mal’s attempts to eat her spaghetti. 

By the time they finished dinner, it was dark outside. Carlos volunteered to clean up their mess while Jay took it upon himself to find a good movie for them to watch. Mal studied her girl and tried to figure out what she needed next; she could see Evie’s sleepy smile and that her eyes were starting to droop. 

Mal reached out grabbed Evie’s hand. “I think I promised you going to bed early.” 

“You did.” Evie agreed. 

“Is that what you want?” 

“More than anything.” 

Mal stood, then pulled Evie to her feet. She kept their hands linked as she led her over to the bed. Mal moved back the blankets and let Evie crawl under them, and then she laid next to her. She wasn’t at all surprised when Evie rested her head on her chest, right over her heart, and then threw her leg over Mal’s hips. 

“You guys are going to bed already!?” Jay protested. 

“Yep.” Mal answered. “See you in the morning.” 

She pulled the blankets up to right below Evie’s chin, just how her girlfriend liked it. Mal stroked her fingers through Evie’s hair, feeling her relax more and more until her breathing evened out. 

“Sweet dreams, baby.” She whispered before pressing a kiss to the top of Evie’s head. Mal closed her eyes and drifted off.


	9. Progress

Ben was a lot smarter than most people gave him credit for. When he announced that he wanted to start taking children off of the Isle, everyone had laughed and thought it was a joke. The other kingdoms, and even his own parents, thought he was just living in a world of dreams that could never come true. 

Ben had fought and fought for the VK Exchange Program, and he was determined to keep it running. When the first week of school ended, he was happy to hear that very minimal damage had been done by the four Isle kids. Sure, they had all gotten detention the first day, but he could brush that off. No one had been in a fight or used magic or skipped class, so he counted that as a win. 

But over the course of that week, Ben had done a lot of observing. He didn’t want to overwhelm them by constantly coming up to them, but that didn’t mean he hadn’t noticed things. 

As soon as he met them, it became clear that Mal was the leader. He wasn’t surprised; after all, she was the daughter of the most powerful villain on the Isle, which must have carried some weight. The other three didn’t do anything without looking in her direction first for permission. If Mal walked down a hallway, everybody else looked away, as if they were scared to even make eye contact with her. 

Jay was the muscle of their group. He was taller than Ben and he had never seen a sixteen year old boy with such large arms. He was a little intimidating, and Ben noticed that the Auradon kids would run to get out of his way whenever he was coming. 

Carlos was the youngest, but he was intelligent. Ben had talked to each of the teachers about how the VKs were doing in class, and he heard nothing but good things about Carlos. But he could see the way the boy jumped every time there was a loud noise or someone got too close to him. 

But it was Evie that fascinated Ben the most. She was the most social and polite of the group, but she seemed so withdrawn. He couldn’t help but see the way Mal was practically glued to her side, and if she wasn’t there, then the boys took her place. She seemed like the one who would fit in the most in Auradon, but there was something about her that Ben couldn’t read. He noticed the way the others would whisper to her, how she would zone out during meal times, and how she tensed up whenever Chad spoke to her. 

Everyone else in Auradon seemed to fear Mal, but Evie is the one he kept his eyes on. Mal may be the leader, but Evie is the center of their little world and it was becoming increasingly obvious that she is hiding something. 

No matter what it took, Ben was going to find out what that something is. 

\-----

For the first time in a while, Evie’s chest felt lighter. She could actually breathe again, and she was smiling and laughing much more. She knew that her friends had noticed the change too; Jay joked around with her a lot more, Carlos would stare at her and smile, and Mal couldn’t keep her hands off of her. Evie felt like she couldn’t go more than a minute without Mal touching her or kissing her, but she reveled in the attention. 

The weekend was just what she needed. The four of them had laid around the dorm, laughing and talking and watching movies. The boys had even talked her into playing a video game, and Jay pouted when she somehow beat him.

When Monday rolled around, Evie expected her mood to waiver, but she felt solid. She woke up with a smile on her face and didn’t even protest when it was time to go to breakfast. She hoped that if she tried her best to stop dreading meal times, maybe it would be more enjoyable and she wouldn’t hate it so much. Mal seemed to understand her perfectly and picked out her food for her, which took some of the pressure off the situation. Ben and Audrey had joined them for lunch, and while the princess still threw in snide comments, Ben was pleasant and friendly. 

On Tuesday, she was still happy. Classes were really starting to pick up, and they weren’t getting much of a free pass anymore (not that they ever really did, but the teachers were slightly more understanding). Homework was piling up, but even that didn’t stop Evie’s happiness. She and Carlos had gone to the library to do their math and history homework, and she was pleasantly surprised when Lonnie joined them. The other girl was funny and smart and knew when to back off of a subject, so she was okay in Evie’s book. 

By dinner time, she was exhausted and she had to push herself to eat, but as soon as that ended, Mal asked her to go on a walk. The fresh air and being alone with her girlfriend did wonders for her mood, and Evie felt recharged by the time they got back to the dorm. Mal even opened up to her about her therapy appointment, and while that didn’t seem to be getting any better, Evie felt like if that was the worst part of being in Auradon, they would be okay.

On Wednesday, Mal woke her up early with a kiss, which then turned into a make out session until their alarms went off. When Jay saw their swollen lips and messy hair, he pretended to gag and left the room. Evie just giggled and got dressed for the day. 

Evie walked with Mal down to breakfast, and she was struck suddenly by how badly she wanted to hold the purple haired girl’s hand. On the Isle, relationships and affection were frowned upon, but Mal still held her hand anywhere they went to show everyone else who she belonged to. It was weird being in a new place and having to hide their feelings for each other. 

When they got down to breakfast, Jay and Carlos were already there. Evie went through the food line with Mal, letting the other girl put things on her tray without comment. She was happy to see fruit and yogurt; so far, that was her favorite because it was lighter and didn’t feel so heavy in her stomach. 

By the time they went over to the boys, Ben had sat down next to Carlos. Evie and Mal sat directly across from Jay and Carlos. Lonnie came over a moment later, sitting next to Mal and across from Ben. 

“Good morning, everybody!” Lonnie greeted. Evie felt Mal tense up and she struggled to hold back her smile; while she was starting to get used to the cheeriness in Auradon, Mal certainly was not. She still couldn’t stand when she saw people smile for no reason (to which Evie replied that she liked when she smiled, and Mal had told her that was different because she was gorgeous, which led to Evie blushing profusely). 

“Good morning!” Evie replied. “I’m halfway finished with your designs. I should have them to you by Saturday.” 

“Awesome, I can’t wait! You’re the best, Evie!” 

Evie felt someone looking at her, and she glanced up, seeing it was Ben. “You’re designing clothes for Lonnie?” he asked. 

“Yeah, I drew up a couple things and she asked me to make them.” 

“Is that a problem?” Mal demanded, butting into the conversation. Evie put a hand on her leg under the table, squeezing to let her know she could handle this. 

“No, of course not. I was just wondering if you would make something for me.” 

Evie blinked a couple times in shock. “You? You want me to make something for the King of Auradon?” 

Ben laughed. “Yeah, if you’re interested…”

“Yes!” Evie interrupted. “What are you thinking?” 

“How about you draw a few things for me and then we’ll decide?” Ben offered. Evie nodded enthusiastically, but of course Mal interrupted again. 

“Lonnie is paying her for the clothes.” 

“Mal.” Evie warned through clenched teeth. 

Ben smiled. “I will be more than happy to compensate you. Are you free today after school?”

Evie’s smiled deflated a little as she remembered that she had therapy. “No, I can’t today. How about tomorrow?”

“I’ll clear my schedule.” 

Conversation shifted as Jay started to ask Ben questions about Tourney. Evie was really proud of him for branching out and trying to find something to do, and she was even happier that he was dragging Carlos along with him. 

Evie felt fingers start to move up and down her leg. She glanced over at Mal, who nodded towards her yogurt. Evie grabbed her spoon and took a bite. 

“Happy?” she asked. 

“Ecstatic.” Mal deadpanned, making Evie laugh. 

A few minutes later, the bell rang, signaling that breakfast had ended. Evie had almost eaten her entire bowl of yogurt, and she knew Mal was happy about that when the other girl put an arm around her waist and squeezed. 

“Hands off.” Jay scolded quietly as they started to move. 

Mal rolled her eyes. “Who knew Jay would take over the mother role when we got here?” 

“It was your idea to pretend to not be together, not mine. I’m just enforcing it.” He reminded the girls. “If you want to jeopardize our plan…” 

Mal scoffed. “Wow, that’s a big word. Do you even know what jeopardize means?” 

He glared. “You little…”

Evie and Carlos both rolled their eyes, moving to walk ahead of their friends. Evie could feel the boy staring at her, and she looked over. “What?”

“You seem good.” 

Evie nodded. “I feel a lot better.” 

“What changed?”

“I don’t know, I guess I finally realized that I’m not in this alone. I don’t have to keep everything inside anymore. Plus Mal has been doing a really good job at helping me wind down when I get too worked up.” 

“I’m happy for you, Eves.” Carlos squeezed her hand quickly as they got to their English class. Old habits die hard, and the two of them stopped outside the door so Mal and Jay could catch up. Jay took the lead, followed by Carlos, then Evie, and Mal brought up the rear. They sat in the seats in the back row that had now clearly been claimed as theirs.

Evie lost focus as she doodled in her sketch book, trying to come up with a few designs for Ben. She tried to do different categories of clothes- formal wear, something to wear to school, something for around the house…

She was interrupted by the teacher calling out her name. She looked up, trying to study the board for what the question was. Carlos whispered the answer and she repeated it, earning an approving nod from the teacher. 

“What are you doing?” Mal whispered. 

“Drawing designs for Ben. What do you think?” she turned her sketch book towards her girlfriend. 

Mal wasn’t big on fashion, but Evie appreciated that she still always tried to give her feedback. “They look good, I like the school outfit the best. I feel like that seems similar enough to things he’s worn before, but with a little extra.” 

She beamed. “Thanks, M.” 

When class ended, they went their separate ways. Evie was one of the first people to arrive in history class, and Chad immediately came over and sat next to her. 

“Hey sexy.” He greeted. 

She didn’t know what came over her, but she had finally had enough of this. “I don’t like it when you call me names like that, it’s degrading. My name is Evie. Please call me that.” 

“Okay, chill.” He held his hands up defensively, but still had a big smile on his face. “So, I’m having a big party at my castle this Friday, _Evie_. I want you and your friends to come.” 

She smiled politely. “Maybe.” 

“Come on, it’s going to be the party of the year. Everyone will be there. Even Ben is coming, and I know you’ve been hanging around with Lonnie and she’ll be there. It’ll be fun.” 

Luckily, their teacher came in and class began. Evie pushed Chad and the party to the back of her mind while she tried to focus on history instead. This was her most difficult subject, and they had a paper due tomorrow, so she really wanted to pay attention. 

After history, Chad jumped up to walk her to math class. He even reached out to grab her backpack for her, which was new, but Evie politely refused. As they walked down the hallway, Chad wouldn’t shut up about the party, which would apparently have all kinds of food, a great DJ, alcohol, and an indoor pool. 

Carlos was accustomed by now to the fact that Chad always walked Evie to class, despite her protesting, so he had started meeting them in the hallway. As soon as the blonde saw him, he called out. 

“Carlos!” Chad shouted. “Hey man, I’m having a party on Friday and I want you all to be there. What do you say?” 

He glanced at Evie, then back to Chad. “What did Evie say?”

“She said maybe, but it’s gonna be awesome…” he continued to list all the things he would have at the party as he followed Evie and Carlos to class. 

“We’ll see, Chad.” Evie said, then pulled Carlos into the classroom. 

“I can’t stand him.” Carlos stated. 

“You? At least he leaves you alone. He gives me a headache.” She rubbed her temples as she walked over to her usual seat. 

Math class was easy enough, and Evie found the equations pretty easy to follow along with. She took notes and did her best to pay attention, and when Mr. Reynolds called on her, she knew the answer right away but waited a few seconds before answering, which he just nodded indifferently at. When the bell rang, she barely even jumped. 

Goodness class was next and as soon as Evie saw Mal, she felt herself smiling. Evie was itching to hug her, but she knew that she couldn’t. 

“Hi.” She greeted. 

“Hi.” Mal repeated. “You seem happy.” 

Evie shrugged. “I’m in a good mood today.” 

“I’m glad.” Mal chuckled. “C’mon, let’s get in there.” 

They took their normal seats as Fairy Godmother walked into the room. They were surprised to see that Dr. Bren was with her. All four of them tensed up and went on the defensive immediately. 

“What’s she doing here?” Mal demanded. 

“Now Mal, let’s be polite. Dr. Bren has agreed to come in and discuss healthy food and eating habits with you all. King Ben told us that you had asked, and we wanted to set something up so you could all get this information together.” Fairy Godmother explained. 

Evie took a deep breath to try and calm herself. It would be a good thing to learn about food so she knew what things were and what was healthy. But she really didn’t want to spend the next 50 minutes talking about food and eating, especially when lunch was right after this class. 

She felt fingers thread through her own and looked down. Mal was holding her hand and she pulled it over into her lap. She ran her thumb back and forth, and then in small circles. Evie took another deep breath and tried to relax. 

Dr. Bren went over the main food groups and how much food they should eat from each category a day. She discussed that they were all underweight and needed to eat some extra calories so that their bodies had the proper nutrients to keep functioning. She reminded them that there were signs out at each meal time, and that would help them to figure out the names of all the different foods. 

“Jay, you are at a pretty good weight, but for your height, I would expect you to gain a little more. Mal, Evie, and Carlos, the three of you are very underweight and if you do not begin to increase the amount of calories you are consuming, it will negatively impact your health.” 

“How?” Carlos asked. 

Dr. Bren launched into everything that could go wrong, but Evie zoned out. She couldn’t talk about this anymore or she was going to get upset. She stared down at her desk and visualized designs in her mind. She felt Mal squeeze her hand tighter, but she wouldn’t pull out of her daze. 

“…and thank Dr. Bren for being here today.” Fairy Godmother was saying when Evie tuned back in to the conversation. 

“Thanks.” Jay said. 

“You’re welcome, I hope this helped. If you have any more questions, or there’s another topic you want me to discuss, please let me know. Evie, I will see you after school.” She walked out. 

The bell rang right after and they grabbed their things and walked to lunch. Evie was still uncomfortable, and she didn’t even notice that Mal hadn’t let go of her hand. 

“How are you?” Mal asked quietly. 

Evie gave a half-hearted shrug, keeping her eyes on the ground. She felt a pull on her hand, and a few seconds later, Mal was bringing her into the bathroom. It was empty, but Mal led the way into a stall and locked the door behind them. 

Evie looked up, making eye contact with her girlfriend. Mal lifted her hands and gently carded them through Evie’s hair, tucking any loose strands behind her ears. She leaned forward and kissed Evie’s cheek softly. 

“What do you need?” 

She thought it over for a second. She was uncomfortable and starting to get a little anxious, so she knew eating wasn’t going to be easy. After lunch, she would be alone for the rest of the day, and she had to deal with therapy after school. Before she did any of that, she needed to calm down. 

“Can you just hold me for a minute?” 

“Whatever you need, baby.” Mal pulled her close. Evie settled into her, resting her head on Mal’s shoulder and closing her eyes. Mal moved them slowly back and forth while Evie focused on her breathing. 

After a couple minutes, Evie felt the weight on her chest being lifted. She wanted to stay there with Mal for the rest of the day, but she knew her girlfriend needed to eat lunch before her next class. She stood up straight. 

“Better?”

“Uh-huh. Thank you.”

“Anything for my girl.” Mal grabbed her chin and tilted it down so she could give her a kiss. 

They walked into the cafeteria and towards the lunch line. Evie really didn’t want to eat, but she knew she had to at least try. Before Mal could put anything on her tray, she reached out and grabbed a salad and a bottle of water. She glanced at Mal, who was smiling at her with so much pride that it made her stomach flutter (in a good way). 

They went over to the table they had claimed as theirs, seeing that Carlos and Jay had already inhaled most of their food. Chad was sitting across from them and Evie barely held back a groan. 

Mal took the seat next to Chad, letting Evie have a buffer. She smiled gratefully at the purple haired girl, who smirked back. 

“Good, now that you’re all here, I want to invite you to my party.” 

“You already did that earlier.” Carlos reminded him before biting into his hamburger. 

“Well now you guys are together. I’m having a party on Friday and I really think you all need to be there.” 

“Why?” Jay questioned. 

Chad launched off into all the reasons why his party would be the best of the year, but Evie zoned out. She had already heard this multiple times and she didn’t need to hear it again. 

She used her fork to chop up her lettuce as much as she could so it would be easier to take bites. Then, she added a packet of dressing and stirred it around. She sighed, but took a small bite. As soon as she moved her fork away from her mouth, she felt a hand on her thigh. She looked over at Mal, who squeezed her leg reassuringly. 

“So, what do you say?” Chad asked hopefully. 

“Maybe if we have time.” Jay responded. 

Evie took another bite of her salad, chewing it as small as she could before swallowing. She took a sip of her water. She repeated this process until the bell rang, seeing that she had finished about half of her salad. 

“You did so well.” Mal praised quietly. “I’m so proud of you.”

“What did you say?” Chad questioned. 

“Is that any of your business?” Mal snapped. Chad just rolled his eyes and walked in the other direction. 

Evie smiled. “I need you to follow me around and do that all day.” 

“Say the word and I’m there.” Mal promised. She glanced around, checking to see if they were alone before she spoke again. “You’ve got this, Pretty Girl. You’re a genius, so classes will be easy. You can handle therapy, and I’ll be waiting in the dorm with a bubble bath when it’s over." 

Evie had seen people in Auradon hug each other when separating in the hallways, so she hoped this wouldn’t draw too much attention. She pulled Mal into her arms for a quick hug. “Thank you, my love.” 

“Stop this.” Jay interrupted, grabbing Mal’s shoulder and pulling her back. “Let’s go.” 

“Asshole.” Mal mumbled. 

“Once again, not my choice. If you wanna change things up, I’ll be happy to stop playing babysitter.” 

“Alright, stop.” Carlos said before they could start arguing. “Time for class. See ya later, E.”

“Bye guys.” She smiled and then turned the opposite way. 

The rest of the day went relatively smooth. Chad still pestered her about his party in chemistry, and even Doug chimed in and mentioned he would be there. Evie started to consider it (though she would never tell Chad that). It may be fun to spend some time with her friends outside of the dorm room, and she was pretty sure Mal would keep Chad away from her, which was an added bonus. 

Evie walked slowly to the health center, wishing that she could just skip the appointment. The week had been going well up until now, and she knew that this could be the turning point. 

“I just have to stay calm.” She whispered to herself. “I can’t let this ruin my mood.” 

She walked inside and checked in at the receptionist’s desk, then was directed back to Dr. Bren’s office. She knocked twice, then opened it. 

“Hello, Dr. Bren.” She greeted, gluing a polite smile onto her face. 

“Hi Evie. Please, take a seat.” She offered. Evie took a spot where she could see the door again, wanting to have an easy route to the exit if something bad happened. She knew Dr. Bren noticed, but luckily the woman didn’t comment on it. “How was your day?”

“It was pretty good. Homework is really starting to pick up, so I’ve been busy.”

“Have you had any time to do things you enjoy?” 

“I’ve been working on some designs. Honestly, I don’t mind the homework though. I like to learn.” 

Dr. Bren smiled. “I think you’re the first person who has ever said that.” 

“My friends would agree; they call me a nerd.”

“There’s nothing wrong with enjoying learning.” Dr. Bren reassured her. “The reason I asked is because Fairy Godmother told me that she has noticed that you and your friends rarely leave your dorm rooms. There are many activities to participate in, and I think you could find something you really enjoy. Did you know there is a sewing club?”

Evie held back her frown. She doubted she would have much in common with people who learned to sew because they liked it verses learning because their friend would have bled to death if they didn’t. “No, I didn’t know.”

“You should sign up. I know that Jay and Carlos have shown some interest in Tourney. Is there anything you think Mal might like? Maybe you could talk her into a club.”

“Maybe.” She said noncommittally. She knew there was an almost nonexistent chance of Mal joining a club, but she was trying to be polite and friendly today, so she wouldn’t say that. 

“Peer interaction is very important when moving to a new place. I imagine it must be difficult adjusting to life in a vastly different environment. Making friends and maintaining relationships would make that transition easier for you and your friends.” 

“Okay.” 

“I would like you to make one goal for this week. Just one thing that you will try to help you with adjusting.” 

Evie nodded. “Actually, I’m considering going to a party this weekend.”

“Oh really? I think that would be the perfect opportunity. I’ll add that to your weekly goal sheet.” Dr. Bren pulled out a pencil and started to write on the clipboard in her hand. “I’m proud of you.” 

Evie hated herself for the rush of happiness that filled her at the therapist’s words. She blamed it on her constant need for adult approval since she had never gotten it before. She pinched her arm to keep herself grounded so she didn’t slide back into a memory. 

“Thank you.” 

“You know, you’re the only one who does that.” Evie raised an eyebrow in question, causing Dr. Bren to clarify. “Says thank you. Your friends never do.” 

“Manners aren’t really encouraged on the Isle. In fact, they’re frowned upon.” 

“Why is that?”

“Because we are taught to be evil, and being polite isn’t evil.” 

“Who teaches you to be evil? Is that what you learn at your school, or from your parents?” 

Evie realized that she had walked right into Dr. Bren’s trap. She dug her nails into her hand and took a deep breath. “No one teaches us.” 

“Then how do you learn?” 

Evie gave her a look. “We’re just born that way.” 

“No one is born evil, Evie. It’s the choices you make that determine if you are good or evil. You know what I think? You are not evil.” 

“I am.” Evie argued back. 

“I don’t think so. You are polite, and you have a good relationship with Mal, Jay, and Carlos, and you like fashion and learning. You’ve been here over a week and you haven’t lashed out or hurt anyone. You’re not evil.” 

“You don’t know me. Just because I’ve told you a few things doesn’t mean you know who I am.” Evie stood. “Back on the Isle, we are the worst of the worst- rotten to the core. People fear us in the streets because they know how evil we are.”

“How do you prove that?” 

Evie let a cold smirk land on her face. “Do you really want me to show you? You couldn’t handle knowing the things I’ve done.”

“I would rather you sit down and talk about it with me.” 

Evie realized how tightly her hands were clenched into fists. It hit her that she had given her too much information and she cursed herself, knowing Mal would be mad. She sat back down in her seat. 

“Why do you think you are evil?” Dr. Bren asked. 

Silence. 

“Did your mother teach you about being evil?” 

Evie just studied her nails, but kept her mouth shut. 

Dr. Bren sighed. “I guess we’re done for today.” 

Evie stood up, gluing her picture perfect smile back on her face. “Have a nice rest of your day!” she walked out of the room. 

She couldn’t believe she had been so stupid. Why had she let the woman trip her up like that? She stormed back to the dorm, feeling the dread creep into her stomach as she got closer and closer. 

When she went inside, she found the boys playing a video game and her girlfriend nowhere in sight. 

“Where’s Mal?” she demanded as she dropped her bag on the floor. 

“In the bathroom.” Carlos replied, not even looking away from the TV screen. 

Evie remembered Mal’s words from earlier and went over to the bathroom. She opened the door slowly, peeking around the corner and seeing that Mal was already in the tub. 

“Hey baby.” She greeted, smiling sleepily. 

Evie went over and sat on top of the toilet lid. She stared down at the floor and took some breaths. 

“I just got in. Come join me.” 

“I fucked up.” Evie blurted out. 

Mal shook her head. “Strip first. You can tell me after you’re in the water.” 

“After I tell you, you’re not going to want to touch me.” 

Mal frowned. “Evie, stand up right now.” Her tone left no room for argument, and Evie reluctantly did as she said. “Get out of your clothes and come get in the bath with me.” 

Evie’s hands shook as she unzipped and unbuttoned. She was naked a few minutes later. She reached up to her hair next and started to undo the intricate braids in her hair, leaving her blue waves free and untamed. 

“You’re so gorgeous.” Mal commented. “It’s not fair how perfect you are, inside and out.” Evie still bit her lip and didn’t move forward, but Mal just reached a hand out to her. “Come here.” 

Evie walked over to the bath tub. She held Mal’s hand as she stepped over the side. She lowered herself slowly into the water as Mal’s hands drifted to her hips and guided her to sit on her lap. Evie’s tensed up muscles tried to relax at the warmth of the water, but she wouldn’t let them. 

“What happened?” Mal questioned.

“I gave too much information away.” 

“Walk me through it.” Mal said as she reached up, running her fingers through her hair. “I love when your hair is loose like this so I can touch it as much as I want.” 

Evie couldn’t concentrate with Mal stroking her hair. It took her a moment too long to realize that that was probably the reason why Mal was doing it.

“She said that I have good manners and asked why the rest of you don’t, and I told her it’s because we’re evil.” 

“Okay…” Mal trailed off, clearly expecting more to the story. 

“Dr. Bren asked who taught us how to be evil, and I told her we’re born that way. She tried to tell me I’m not evil, and I snapped.” 

“You’re not evil.” Mal told her. 

“Yes I am.” Evie responded automatically. 

“I’ve been doing a lot of thinking lately, and you know what? I don’t think any of us are evil.” Mal stated. “If I was evil, I wouldn’t take care of you and want to protect you as much as I do. If Carlos was evil, he wouldn’t try so hard to reassure all of us when we’re upset. If Jay was evil, he wouldn’t hug or tease the way he does. If you were evil, you wouldn’t make us special clothes or cuddle. All of our lives, we’ve been told that we are evil and we have to keep being evil and we have to prove how evil we are to our parents. But what if we’re not evil? What if we can choose good?” 

Evie considered Mal’s words. “I still gave her a weakness. I told her people feared us on the Isle and that we were the worst of the worst.” She sighed. “I said she couldn’t handle knowing the things I’ve done.” 

“You didn’t do anything wrong, E.” Mal reassured her, pressing a light kiss against her cheek. “Maybe you lost your cool a little, but you didn’t tell her anything major.” She kissed her nose and then ran her hands up and down her arms. “Now relax your muscles, Pretty Girl. You’re way too tense. Deep breath in, and then let it out.” 

For once, Evie didn’t argue and chose to just listen to her words. She took a deep breath, then let it out slowly, allowing her body to relax. She leaned forward as she did so, collapsing in Mal’s arms. 

“I’m sorry.” She said, even though she wasn’t really sure why. 

“You don’t owe me an apology for anything. You’re allowed to have feelings.” Mal leaned back, pulling Evie forward until she was laying on top of her. “Just close your eyes. I’ve got you.” 

Evie did exactly as she said and her eyes drifted shut, letting the weight of her thoughts disappear.


	10. Deja Vu

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning- check the tags
> 
> Let me know your thoughts on the chapter, and anything you would like to see!

When Friday rolled around, Mal was practically buzzing with excitement (though she would never tell anyone that). Last weekend had gone so well and Evie made great progress, so she hoped that this weekend would be the same. 

Mal thought she would lose it after she got upset from her therapy appointment, but Evie had surprised her and recovered quickly. Thursday had been uneventful, and now they just had to get through today. 

“So, I think we should go to Chad’s party tonight.” Evie announced at breakfast time. 

Mal nearly choked on her juice. “Excuse me?” 

“What? It might be fun.”

Carlos frowned. “You can’t stand Chad.”

“You’re right, but it’s not like I’m going to go and hang out with him. The four of us can stay together and if he comes over, you can scare him off, M. I know you love doing that.” 

Mal smirked. “I do, but I don’t really want to spend our break from school hanging around with a bunch of Auradon preppies.” 

She heard a chuckle from across the table and looked at Jay, who was laughing. The dark haired boy shoved Carlos. “One guess on what we’ll all end up doing tonight.” 

Both boys were looking at her girlfriend, so Mal turned her head. Evie was staring at her with her signature pout and puppy dog eyes. 

“No. It’s not going to work this time.” Mal insisted. 

“But babe…” 

“No, Evie.” She said, carefully avoiding looking at her face. 

“It’s a good way to blend and make friends. Isn’t that what we’re supposed to be doing? Adapting to Auradon life so that we can make our plan work?” Evie grabbed her arm, but she still refused to look at her. “Dr. Bren made me make a weekly goal. She wants us all to be more social, and I told her we were going to this party.” 

“So? It’s not like she’s going to check and make sure.” 

“I wouldn’t put it past her.” Carlos grumbled. 

“Please, M? Please?” 

Mal sighed and looked towards Evie. “Why?”

The blue haired girl looked thrown off. “Why what?”

“Tell me why you want to go.” 

She started to list off reasons. “Doug and Lonnie will be there, and they’re nice. We can finally get out of the dorm room. It might be fun. It’ll give us more insight on how the people behave in different environments so we can try and imitate it if we need to. We could find out some useful information. Audrey will be there and she’ll hate it if she sees us walk in the door. It’ll keep Dr. Bren off my back. We can get drunk and make out.” She wiggled her eyebrows suggestively. 

“Alright, she does have some good points, other than that last one.” Carlos said, shooting Evie a look. 

Mal had to agree with him. It would be good to go out and study the Auradonians in a new situation, and she was all for making Evie’s life easier, especially where therapy was involved. 

Evie looked at her, her eyes widening again and her bottom lip pouting out. “Please?” 

If she wasn’t sold already, the damn puppy dog pout would have definitely sealed the deal. 

“Fine.” 

“Yay! Thank you, M!” she leaned forward to kiss her and Mal intended to meet her halfway, until Evie yelped. “Shit!” 

“What?” Mal asked. 

“You guys are fucking ridiculous.” Jay scolded. “Do you remember that we’re sitting in the middle of the cafeteria? Back away from each other before I kick you again.” 

Mal glared. “How about if you ever hurt her again, I…”

“Stop.” Evie interrupted before she could finish her threat. “He’s right, we do need to pay attention. I’m sorry, Jay.” She looked at Mal expectantly. 

The purple haired girl scoffed and turned back to her breakfast. It would be a cold day in hell before she would apologize to Jay. 

“Mal Bertha…” Evie warned. 

“I’m not saying anything to that asshole.”

“Oh, I’m an asshole? Let me remind you again who came up with this rule. Carlos, was it you? Was it me?” 

“Nope.” Carlos said. Mal studied him; the younger boy looked like he was fed up with all of them. 

“No, it was the two of you, and yet I’m always left to enforce it. Grow the fuck up and keep to yourselves before you get our cover blown.” 

“We will.” Evie insisted. “We’re sorry.” 

Mal rolled her eyes and just continued to eat. When they were on the Isle, the whole pretending not to date thing seemed like a good idea. Even now that they were in Auradon, Mal had been keeping her eye out for any same sex couples, but she had yet to find one. She was sick of pretending. 

The best part of the Isle was the lack of discrimination. You could sleep with whoever you wanted and no one batted an eyelash. Of course, relationships were frowned upon, but no one cared about making out or hooking up. Mal broke the usual Isle rule by claiming Evie as her own- the two of them held hands more often than not, and she made it a point to kiss her in front of as many people as possible, but it was a protection tactic. Everyone knew Evie belonged to Mal, and that lessened the chance that something would happen to the other girl. 

She hated listening to Chad flirt with Evie and degrade her. She hated the longing looks that her girlfriend received in the hallway, and how other people stared at her for a little too long. Mal knew she was possessive, but she was itching to claim Evie as her own so these Auradon kids would get back into their place.

The rest of the school day flew by. Mal didn’t have any issues, and she couldn’t help but notice that Evie seemed the most like her actual self today compared to the rest of the time they had been in Auradon. At the end of the day, she was waiting for the others in their designated meeting spot. 

She and Jay had walked together after their last class, and Carlos joined them a moment later. Mal kept her eyes scanning the crowd, searching for blue. She spotted Evie a second later and as soon as their eyes met, Evie smiled at her. Mal smiled back, but then her view of Evie was blocked. She saw that Chad had stepped in front of her girlfriend. 

“I swear, that Charming kid needs to be taught a lesson.” She complained. 

Carlos came over to stand next to her. “I agree.” 

Mal looked at him in surprise. While she and Jay usually jumped to violence as their first line of defense, Evie and Carlos preferred to act more like peacemakers. 

“Really?”

“I don’t like the way he treats her. He’s always following after her and calling her names. He calls her ‘sexy’.” 

Mal growled at that. “I know, I heard him the other day. This is why I don’t want to go to his party tonight.” 

“Evie is right about the party though. We should go so we can actually start planning out how we’re going to pull this off. We need information.” 

Mal nodded in agreement. “I still don’t like it.” 

“You don’t like what?” they were interrupted when Evie came over. She was still smiling, so Mal guessed she didn’t have to hurt Chad yet. 

“What did Chad want?” Mal demanded. 

“He was making sure that we were still coming tonight.” 

“Is there going to be alcohol?” Jay questioned. 

“Yes.” 

“We’re keeping a clear head.” Mal told her friends, but Evie and Jay just chattered on about the party. The two of them were the most social, so it was no surprise that they were excited. 

Carlos hung back by Mal as they all walked towards the dorms. “Have you thought about coming out with your relationship?” 

Mal sighed. “I think about it every single day.” 

“What’s keeping you from doing it?”

“I haven’t seen any other same sex couples in Auradon. I’m not going to paint a target on Evie’s back and draw more attention towards us.”

“So you’re just going to keep living like this for forever?” 

“For as long as it takes.” Mal corrected. “We just need to carry out our plan first.” 

They all climbed the stairs up to the girls’ room (they weren’t big fans of elevators). As soon as they got inside, Mal dropped her backpack and collapsed onto Evie’s bed. 

“Tired?” Evie asked, her amusement showing through in her tone. 

“Mmhmm.” Mal reached out for her. “Nap time.” 

“I can’t, Lonnie is coming by to pick up her designs so she can wear one of them to the party tonight, and then I need to finish my outfit.” Evie leaned down, her long hair forming a curtain around their faces. She pressed a kiss against Mal’s lips, which the other girl eagerly returned. “I can’t wait until I can kiss you whenever I want.” 

“Me either.” Mal kissed her again. “Just five minutes?” 

Evie smiled. “Well, you are going to this party for me tonight, so I guess I owe you something.” 

Mal grinned in victory as Evie laid next to her, her back resting against Mal’s chest. She wrapped her arms around her waist and held her as her eyes drifted shut. 

Just as she started to fall asleep, someone knocked on the door. Mal tightened her grip on Evie, who giggled. “That’s Lonnie. You’re gonna have to let go.”

Mal groaned, but let Evie get up. She sat up on the bed; there was no way she could nap with an Auradon kid in her room. She watched as Evie opened the door, allowing Lonnie to enter their space. 

“Hey guys!” she greeted with a smile. Mal thought Lonnie was so strange. She was the only one who hadn’t shown fear of the VKs, and she spoke to them as if they were just normal people. It was refreshing, but also made Mal feel like she was losing her touch. 

Mal watched as Evie carefully pulled out the designs she had made for Lonnie. Her girlfriend had been insistent on finishing by the weekend, and every night after she finished her homework, she sat down at her sewing machine and got to work. The results had been amazing, and even with her miniscule amount of knowledge about fashion, Mal could admit that they were beautiful. 

Lonnie let out a high pitched squeal as soon as she saw the outfits. The boys even paused their game and turned to look, alerted by the unfamiliar noise. 

“These are so awesome, Evie! Thank you so much!” Lonnie jumped forward, wrapping her arms around Evie. 

Mal launched out of the bed, standing defensively and ready to attack. She realized her girlfriend wasn’t in any distress when Evie returned the hug. Mal relaxed slightly, but stayed standing in case anything changed. 

“I can’t wait to wear this outfit to the party tonight. It’s going to be so different from everyone else’s clothes.” Lonnie gushed. “Here’s the money!” 

Mal’s eyes widened at the amount of money Lonnie placed in Evie’s hand. She glanced at the boys, who looked just as surprised. 

“See you guys tonight!” Lonnie turned and left with her arms full of new outfits. 

Evie moved around to face them. “I can’t believe she loved them so much!”

“Of course she did.” Jay scoffed. “You’re fucking amazing.” 

Evie went over to him, sitting on his lap and giving him a big hug. “Thank you, Jay.” 

“Now what are we buying with this?” he asked, taking the money out of her hand. 

Mal came up behind him and snatched the money away. “Evie will buy whatever she wants. It’s her money.” 

“It’s ours.” Evie corrected. “Is there anything you guys need?” Mal, Carlos, and Jay shook their heads. “Anything you want?” 

“Babe, it’s your money. You said you wanted to make some new soaps and shampoos, and that you wanted to make more clothes. Get what you need.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“I could go for one of your shampoos.” Jay agreed. “This soap here is drying out my hair.” 

Evie smiled. “I’m so proud. I never thought I would hear those words come out of your mouth.”

“Yeah, well you teased me enough about it on the Isle.” 

Carlos grinned. “Now if only Mal would listen when you talk about her split ends.” 

Mal rolled her eyes as the three of them laughed. “Ha ha, very funny. Don’t you guys have a room of your own that you should be in?”

“You would miss us.” Jay told her, but Mal just sighed. “E, get your girl out of her mood.” 

“Come on, M.” Evie stood, grabbing Mal’s hand. “Come take a shower with me.” 

Mal ignored the boys catcalls and smiled as she followed her girlfriend into the bathroom. 

\-----

“Ugh, I still can’t believe I let you talk me into this.” Mal said as she walked up to Chad’s castle with Evie, Jay, and Carlos. Limos had been running back and forth from Auradon Prep to the castle, and it was their first time leaving campus. 

“Please try and have fun.” Evie told her. 

“Alright, everyone remember the rules?” she questioned as she turned to face her friends. 

“Don’t drink too much.” Jay pouted. 

“Don’t take food or drinks from anyone you don’t know.” Carlos added. 

“Stay within sight of each other.” Evie stated. “Don’t get distracted, keep your eyes and ears open, listen for useful info. We got it, Mal.” 

Mal sighed. “Let’s do this.” She raised her hand and knocked. 

“Hey!” Chad greeted as he opened the door. “Everyone, the VKs are here!” he shouted into the house, earning a cheer from the crowd of teenagers. Everyone was drinking out of red solo cups and music was blasting from the speakers. 

Mal didn’t care about appearances right now. She reached down and locked her hand in Evie’s. Chad fist bumped Jay, then Carlos, and then leaned forward to give Evie a hug. Mal felt her tense up, and when he pulled back, she could see the uncomfortable look on her girlfriend’s face. He moved towards her, but she just glared. 

“Mal.” He greeted. 

“Chad.” She tugged Evie’s hand. “C’mon.” she led the way to the kitchen, feeling the boys close behind. 

“Stay away from him.” Jay said before Mal even had the chance. 

Evie rolled her eyes. “I don’t need a lecture, I can handle it. Will you make me a drink?” 

Jay started to dig around through the bottles of alcohol lined up on the counter, opening a few and smelling them. “Mal, Carlos, you want one?” 

“I’ll stick with beer.” Carlos stated, grabbing a can out of the fridge. 

“Same.” Mal agreed, catching the beer Carlos threw to her. 

Jay made a weird concoction out of a few bottles, stirring it around by moving the cup and letting the liquid slosh around. He handed a cup to Evie and took one for himself. “Cheers.” They pressed their cups together, then each took a drink. 

Mal watched Evie’s face as she drank, grimacing with her as the taller girl coughed. “Fuck.” 

Even Jay made a weird face. “Sorry, I don’t really know what all this stuff is. I just picked what smelled okay.” 

“It’s awful.” Evie said, but tilted it up and took another drink anyway. 

Mal shook her head, remembering all the times on the Isle that Jay and Evie had played bartender. It was one of their favorite pastimes to steal alcohol and see what kinds of combinations they could make. They always woke up the next morning hungover and sick, but they continued to do it anyway. 

“Hi guys.” They all looked over as Doug joined them in the kitchen. He ate lunch with them occasionally, so they all knew him, but Mal wouldn’t really consider him a friend. She knew that he had saved Evie from being stuck with Chad a couple of times though, so she did appreciate that.

The boys ventured off into the house, but Evie seemed content talking with Doug, so Mal stayed by her side and sipped her beer. She watched everyone around them, seeing people dancing and kissing and drinking. This was nothing like an Isle party, but maybe that wasn’t such a bad thing. 

Mal heard Evie laugh and she glanced over at her, smiling at the sound. Her girlfriend was fucking gorgeous and she still couldn’t figure out how she got lucky enough to be with her. Doug looked equally enamored, and Mal made a mental note to find a way to make the boy back off. 

Doug walked away, leaving them alone in the kitchen. Mal wanted to kiss her, but she knew better than to do something like that out in the open. Evie walked around the counter and started to make herself a new drink. 

“Are you having fun?” she asked. 

“Mmhmm. It’s nice doing something different.” Evie smirked. “But there’s still something else I would rather being doing.” She bit her lip and ran her eyes up and down Mal’s body. “Or someone.” 

Mal groaned. “Don’t fucking start or I’m throwing you over my shoulder and we’re leaving.” 

Evie giggled, then brought her cup up to her lips. “This is so much better than what Jay made.” 

“I don’t know how either of you drink that stuff.” 

“It’s fun. You never know how the combination will taste. Sometimes it’s good.” Evie held her cup out. “Wanna try?” 

Mal leaned closer. “Uh-huh.” She quickly pressed their lips together. “Tastes amazing.” 

Evie just smirked and then turned to walk towards the living room. Mal followed after her, keeping a close distance so no one would touch her. Evie led the way right to the center of the room where the DJ was playing. 

“Dance with me?” Evie questioned. 

Mal didn’t like dancing and she had no coordination, but when her girlfriend asked her to do something, you better believe she was going to try her best. They started to follow the beat of the music. 

Evie threw her head back and finished off her second drink as her body moved from side to side. Mal felt someone brush against her and turned, seeing that it was Jay. 

“You guys good?” he wondered, leaning in to talk in her ear since it was so loud. 

“Yeah!” 

“Jay! Make me another?” Evie shouted over the music, holding out her cup. 

“I got you, Princess.” He made his way back to the kitchen. 

Mal studied her girlfriend. Evie’s eyes were clear, her movements were strong, and her voice was steady, meaning she could probably handle another drink. But if she asked for a fourth, Mal would step in. 

Jay came back over with Carlos by his side. Evie grabbed the cup from his outstretched hand and leaned up to kiss his cheek as a thank you. She took a drink and it must not have been bad because Mal noticed she didn’t make a face. Evie stayed close to Jay, allowing him to twirl her around and dance with her. 

Mal looked at Carlos and he nodded at her, signaling that he was ready to get out of the commotion. Mal caught Jay’s eyes and nodded towards the couches, to which he nodded back in understanding. Mal knew that Jay would keep Evie close, and she and Carlos could sit for a few minutes. 

“It’s so hot in here.” Carlos complained as they sank down on an empty couch. “I don’t get how they can like something like this.”

“They love dancing and drinking and talking to people, so it’s not that surprising.” Mal reminded him before sipping her beer. “I’m just glad Jay likes it as much as Evie does so he can hang out with her.” 

“True.” Carlos agreed. “Have you found out anything useful yet?” 

“Not really.” Mal said, not wanting to admit that she had spent more of the night staring at Evie than doing anything else. 

“Hey guys!” Mal and Carlos looked over at the sound of the prince’s voice. They were a little surprised to see Ben there, and it was weird that he was dressed so casually. 

“Hi Ben.” Mal greeted dryly, hoping he would leave. 

Of course, he didn’t catch the hint. “Where are Evie and Jay?” 

Carlos nodded towards the dance floor and Ben looked over. A slower song was currently playing and Evie was wrapped in Jay’s arms, the two of them laughing as they spoke quietly to each other. If Mal wasn’t completely secure in her relationship, she may have been a little jealous, but she knew about the brother/sister relationship her girlfriend and friend had and knew there was nothing to worry about. 

They talked about random subjects with Ben for a few minutes, the overly eager boy leading most of the conversation. Jay and Evie came over, Jay plopping down next to Carlos and Evie taking a seat on his lap since there was no more room. 

“You’re hot.” Jay complained. 

“Why thank you, Jay. You’re not so bad yourself.” Evie teased. 

He shoved her off, causing her to fall onto Carlos’s lap instead. Mal’s gaze was on Ben, but she watched out of the corner of her eye as Carlos just wrapped an arm around Evie’s waist and let her get comfortable. As soon as Jay chimed in, catching Ben’s attention, Mal glanced over at the others. Evie was flushed and sweaty, but she looked happy. 

“I’m gonna grab a beer.” Mal told them. “Anyone need anything?” 

“Can you get me one?” Carlos asked. 

“I’ll come with you!” Ben said as she stood. Mal held in her groan; she hated entertaining other people. 

They weaved through the crowd of sweaty bodies and made it into the kitchen. Mal opened the fridge and reached in for a beer. 

“So, did you guys have parties like this on the Isle?”

Mal shrugged. “Sort of.” 

“What do you mean?”

“Well, there wasn’t this many people, and it wasn’t so loud. But we hung out and danced.”

“Was there alcohol?”

Mal snorted. “That was one of the very few ways we could have fun.” 

“I’m sorry about that.” Ben said, his face suddenly getting serious. “If I had known what it was like over there, I would have…”

“You would have what? You’re not even king now, so what could you have done? Besides that, don’t think that you understand the Isle because you’ve had a couple of conversations about what may be happening there. You don’t know anything.” 

“Excuse me?” Mal looked over at the new voice, seeing Audrey walk into the room. “Apologize for speaking to your future king like that.” 

Mal scoffed. “He is _not_ my king.” 

“You have no problem taking advantage of living in Auradon.” Audrey said, gesturing towards the beers in her hands. “He will be your king. You and your friends need to learn some respect.”

“And you and yours need to learn to keep your mouths shut.” Mal argued back. 

“My friends and I aren’t the ones dancing like a slut in the middle of the dance floor. Tell me, did Evie sleep with everyone on the Isle, or just Jay?” 

Mal felt her eyes start to tingle, but Ben stepped in. “Audrey, stop. That was completely unnecessary.” 

“Why? Ben, these people come over here acting like we owe them something and then they take advantage of us! It’s obvious that they have some type of ulterior motive. I know you’ve seen the way Evie makes Chad fall all over her, and how Mal manipulates Fairy Godmother.” 

Mal was confused. She didn’t understand how she was manipulating anyone, let alone Fairy Godmother. “What are you talking about?” 

“You and your little private lessons with her. We all know you have magic. You’re a danger to Auradon, and you shouldn’t be here. The four of you are like an accident waiting to happen. As far as I’m concerned, they should have left you on the Isle where you belong so you could rot.” 

Mal knew she had two choices here. She could explode, like she really, really wanted to. Or she could walk away. She knew they had a lot on the line to lose, and a Mal-sized screw up might jeopardize their plan. 

She took a deep breath, then slammed past Audrey and out the backdoor. She heard footsteps following after her and someone calling her name, but she ignored it. She felt a hand on her shoulder and she whipped around, coming face to face with Ben. 

“What?!?” she seethed in anger. 

“I’m sorry about Audrey. What she said was wrong.” 

“Are you so sure about that? I bet some of your friends would agree.” 

“I don’t really care about what my friends think.” Ben admitted as he sat down on a bench in the garden. He gestured with his hand towards the empty spot next to him, which she reluctantly took. “Mal, for as long as I can remember, it has been my dream to fix things on the Isle. You’re right, I don’t know anything about it besides the random snippets I’ve heard. But I want to know. It’s my wish to come up with a solution to problems that were created by our parents so that all of the children on the Isle have a fair shot.” 

Mal studied the prince. “You really mean that?” 

“Of course.” 

The gears in Mal’s head were turning. Maybe the angle they needed was getting close to the prince. 

\-----

Evie laughed with Carlos and Jay, the three of them watching how the Auradon kids struggled to hold in their alcohol. She glanced towards the directions of the kitchen, wondering when Mal would be back. Even though they couldn’t be touchy or affectionate, she still craved the other girl’s presence. 

“Hey!” Lonnie came over. “Great party, huh?” 

“Yeah, it’s fun.” Evie agreed. “You look so good in that outfit, even better than I had imagined!” 

“I’ve been getting so many compliments. I’m telling everyone you made it for me, so I hope you don’t mind.”

“No, of course not. I love designing and making clothes, so if anyone wants to put in an order, I would be happy to fill it.” 

Lonnie laughed. “Good, because I’ve already had like seven people tell me that they’re going to try and get you to make something for them.” 

Evie felt a tap on her thigh, which dragged her attention back to the boys. She saw that a couple guys from the Tourney team were standing near them. 

“We’re gonna go play a game with the guys.” Carlos told her. “You good?”

“Yeah, Mal should be back in a minute.”

“We’ll be right over there.” Jay chimed in, pointing towards where a table with a bunch of cups was set up. “If she’s not back in two minutes, come over.” 

“I will.” Evie agreed, sliding off Carlos’s lap and onto the couch. The boys followed their new teammates, leaving Evie with Lonnie. 

“I’m so jealous.” Lonnie stated as soon as they were alone. 

“Why?”

“You guys are all so close. I don’t have any friends like that.” 

“What about Jane?” Evie wondered. “You guys seem close.” 

“We are, but not like you and your friends.” Lonnie smirked. “Unless you’re _more_ than friends.” 

“What?” Evie asked, her heartbeat starting to race. Did Lonnie know about her and Mal? 

“I saw how you were dancing with Jay, and you were just sitting on Carlos’s lap. Are you dating one of them?” 

Evie laughed, half because of the statement and half because of how innocent these Auradon kids were; they didn’t even consider that she could be with Mal, despite the fact that she was touchiest with her. “No, we’re just really good friends.” 

Lonnie sighed. “That sucks. You and Jay would make a cute couple.” 

Evie laughed even louder this time. “Have you been drinking? I think you need to lay off.” 

Lonnie smiled. “What? Jay’s attractive.” 

“But it’s not like that with us.”

“I’m just saying, you’re both gorgeous. You would make the prettiest babies.” 

Evie eyed her. “Okay, now I really know you need to stop drinking. You’re cut off.” She smirked. “But I do think it’s interesting that you think Jay is gorgeous.” 

Lonnie’s cheeks flushed, and Evie knew she had hit her mark. “What?” 

“Jay’s a great guy. Maybe he would be interested.” Evie told her. 

“I don’t know, I…” Lonnie trailed off, stumbling over her words. 

“Just think about it, okay?” Evie stood. “I’m going to find Mal, I’ll be back.” 

She headed in the direction of the kitchen. It had been almost five minutes now with no sign of the purple haired girl, and she wasn’t comfortable with that. She kept her eyes glued towards the kitchen, not even realizing when someone stepped in her way. 

Evie crashed into the person, her drink flying out of her hand and all over their shirt. She looked up, seeing that it was Chad. 

“Well hey there, sexy. You didn’t have to spill your drink to catch my attention- you already have it.” He smiled charmingly. 

“I’m so sorry.” She apologized. 

Chad looked down, seeing the state of his shirt. “My mom is going to kill me for this. This is the fourth shirt I have ruined with alcohol.” 

Evie felt the hairs prickle on her neck. These kids were scared of their parents? What would Cinderella really do to her son if his shirt was messed up? She could only imagine what her mother would do. “No, it won’t be too hard to get out. Where’s the bathroom?” 

“Right over here.” Chad grabbed her hand, leading her up the stairs. Evie frowned at the feeling of the hand in hers; it felt nothing like Mal. 

Chad pulled out a set of keys and unlocked a door. She walked into a bedroom. “Is this your room?”

“Yeah, there’s a bathroom right through there.” Chad pointed towards the open door. 

Evie went in, flipping on the light. She grabbed the little bottle of hand soap sitting on the counter and held out her hand. 

“What?” he asked. 

“I need the shirt.” 

Chad smirked, but unbuttoned his shirt and held it out to her. Evie took it without a second glance, applying the soap to the spots her drink had landed. The shirt was white, so it made this a little more difficult, but she was confident that she could fix it. Even though Chad wasn’t very high up on her list of people she enjoyed being around, she didn’t want his mother to kill him. 

“So, have you been having a good time?” Chad wondered. 

Evie nodded. “Yeah, it’s been fun.” 

“I saw you dancing. You’re a really good dancer.”

She shook her head. “No, I’m not that good.” 

“Yes you are. You move so naturally, it’s beautiful.” He smiled. “You look really nice tonight, Evie.” 

She looked up at him, seeing that for once, he actually was making eye contact instead of staring at her body. “Thank you.”

“Lonnie told me that you made her outfit. Did you make yours too?”

“Yeah, I’ve been making clothes since I was a kid.” 

“You’re really talented. Maybe you could make something for me some time.” 

Evie rinsed the shirt in the water, smiling in relief when the fabric returned to its original white. “Maybe.” She finished rinsing the shirt, then handed it back. “There you go, as good as new.”

“Thank you.” He grinned. “Good thing I ran into someone who was able to fix it. Most people wouldn’t have even tried.” 

“Yeah, well I know a thing or two about disappointing your parents.”

“Really?” Chad shut off the bathroom light as they walked back into his bedroom. “What do you mean?” 

Evie shook her head. She couldn’t believe she had said something like that. “Nothing. I’m glad your shirt is clean. I’m going to go find my friends.” 

Chad was still shirtless and blocking her path towards the door. She tried to walk around him, but he moved, holding onto her arms. She realized too late what he was doing and then, Chad’s lips were pressed against her own. 

Evie stayed stiff, pulling her head back quickly. “No, Chad. I’m not interested in you like that.” 

“From the first day I saw you, I could tell exactly who you were. I know that comment Audrey made about you not being a real princess cut deep. If you were with me, you could be a real princess.” 

“No, that’s okay.” Evie went to walk around him again, but Chad walked towards her, backing her up until the back of her knees hit the bed. She was forced into a sitting position as he loomed over her. 

“I know you like to play hard to get, but it’s getting old, sweetheart.” He stroked her cheek. 

“Get off of me.” She struggled in his grasp, but Chad just kissed her again. “No. I want to find my friends. Let me go.” 

“I see the way you look at me.” Chad leaned over her until she was laying down on the bed. “I know you want this.” He leaned down and kissed her neck. 

Evie felt her entire body freeze up as tears filled her eyes. Auradon wasn’t supposed to be like this. On the Isle, she had been through this more times than she could count. She shut her eyes tightly, being reminded of all the men who had touched her, kissed her, hit her…

What was the point? Why should she stay in Auradon if they were just as evil as the people on the Isle? 

She felt Chad’s hands roaming around her body and she felt physically ill. She bit her lip, trying to keep herself from vomiting right there. She flinched every time Chad’s lips touched her skin, praying that this was all just a nightmare. 

Hands went to the buttons on her pants and her eyes flew open. No. She wasn’t going to let this happen. She couldn’t. 

Evie screamed at the top of her lungs. “GET OFF ME!” she yelled as loud as she could, causing Chad to jump as he pulled her pants off her legs. “NO!” he tried to cover her mouth, but she bit down into his hand. Chad slapped her across the face as he shouted in pain. “DON’T TOUCH ME! STOP!” 

The bedroom door busted open and Chad rolled off of her, but Evie couldn’t stop screaming. She sat up, bringing her legs to her chest as she waited for all of the Auradon kids to turn on her and help Chad hurt her. She flinched when she felt a hand on her arm. 

“…and you’re okay, Evie. It’s Lonnie…” she slid off the bed when she felt someone touch her shoulder. She pressed her back against the bed and buried her face in her knees as she screamed louder and louder. 

\-----

“Yes!” Jay cheered as he made his shot in beer pong, reaching out to high five Carlos. Carlos laughed with him, watching as their rivals tried to throw the ball. 

A noise from the side of the room caught his attention and Carlos watched as a couple kids went running up the stairs. He scanned the room, his mind immediately going to Evie and Mal, but he didn’t see them. 

Then, Doug was running down the steps. Carlos locked eyes with him and the other boy sprinted over to him. 

“Carlos…it’s Evie…come quick…” 

Carlos dropped the can of beer in his hand and took off with Jay hot on his heels. The raced towards the stairs, shoving people out of their way without a second thought. Carlos could hear her screams the closer they got, and it just motivated him to move quicker. 

He followed the sound into a bedroom, seeing Lonnie, Audrey, and a couple other kids he didn’t know standing around. When his eyes landed on Evie, he swore he felt his heart break. 

Evie was sitting on the floor in a closet, her knees brought up to her chest as she rocked back and forth. She was still screaming and choked sobs escaped her lips every couple seconds. Her eyes were squeezed shut and she was holding her hands over her ears. She had no pants on. 

“Hey, E. You’re okay.” Carlos sank to the floor in front of her. He didn’t want to scare her, but he knew she couldn’t hear him. He brought his hands up carefully and put them over hers. Her eyes squeezed tighter and the screams intensified, but he leaned in towards her ear. “It’s Carlos. I’m here, Evie.” 

She whimpered, pulling away from his touch and slamming her back into a shoe rack in the process. She started to cry even harder. 

“Evie, open your eyes.” Jay insisted as he sat next to Carlos. “Calm down.” 

But Evie was inconsolable. Carlos looked around the room, then turned to Jay. “Where the fuck is Mal?” 

“I’ll find her.” Audrey reassured them before running out of the room. 

Carlos knew that he and Jay could try their best, but no one would be able to get Evie to calm down until Mal was here. 

\-----

It surprised Mal how…normal…Ben was. The boy still had the manners and demeanor of a prince, but he actually listened. He asked questions in a way that didn’t feel like digging, and he showed genuine interest in what she said. 

Mal wasn’t making it easy. She was talking in circles to try and get out of telling him any real information, but she was learning a lot about him anyway. He was persistent, intelligent enough to know when to back off, and he seemed to care a lot about the Isle and the VKs. 

Loud, clicking heels pounding against the ground interrupted their conversation, and Mal was reminded of her own heel-wearing girlfriend. She had been gone for too long and she needed to get back to her princess. 

“Ben!” Audrey shouted as soon as she was close enough to see them. If she was upset about him sitting with Mal, she didn’t comment on it. Mal was actually surprised when the girl turned towards her. “You need to get inside.” 

“Audrey…” Ben started to interrupt. 

“No, something is wrong with Evie…” 

Mal didn’t need any more information. She ran faster than she ever had before, letting the crowd guide her in the direction she needed to be. She felt like a knife had pierced her heart when she heard Evie’s screams and cries. 

Mal burst into the bedroom, taking in the scene before her. Evie was screaming in the closet with Jay and Carlos kneeling in front of her. There was a crowd of people gathered in the room, all whispering quietly as they stared at the blue haired girl. 

She let out a growl as she felt her eyes light up. “Everyone, out. Now.” 

They all ran out of the room without hesitation. Carlos and Jay looked to her for guidance, but she ignored them, effectively sending the message that they needed to leave too. She heard the bedroom door shut and then they were alone. 

“Hey baby.” She said quietly. “It’s just me. It’s Mal.” She gently grabbed her hands, removing them from her ears. She put Evie’s hands on her cheeks, then ran them down her neck, then chest, then stomach. “You’re safe. It’s just us.” 

The screaming stopped, but Evie was still sobbing. “No, no, no…” she chanted over and over again. 

“I’m here, Pretty Girl. It’s Mal.” She just kept guiding Evie’s hands across her body. She knew her girlfriend would startle if she touched her, but letting her feel that it really was her could help. 

After an agonizing minute, Evie’s eyes fluttered open. “M-M-Mal?” 

“I’m right here, E. It’s just you and me.” She crawled further into the closet and reached her arms out. Evie climbed into her lap without question, straddling her and burying her face in her neck. 

Mal just held Evie as she cried. She felt her blood boil as the moments passed, wondering who had dared to put their hands on her girlfriend. She could see a red handprint on Evie’s cheek and a faint mark on her neck. 

“I’m sorry, M. I’m s-s-sorry.” Evie cried. 

“Hey, stop that. You don’t need to apologize. This isn’t your fault, baby. Just take some deep breaths, okay? Listen to my heartbeat.” Mal shifted, guiding Evie’s head down so it rested over her heart. “You’re safe.” 

“He k-kissed me a-and p-p-pulled my pants d-down.” Evie admitted through her tears. “I’m sorry, M, I d-didn’t w-w-want t-to.” 

“Don’t apologize. I’m not mad at you.” Mal soothed, running her fingers gently through Evie’s hair. “What else happened, baby girl? Did he hurt you?” she still didn’t know who ‘he’ was, but she didn’t want to set her off even more by asking. 

Evie shook her head. “I screamed when h-he got my p-p-pants off. People came in and Ch-Chad ran.” 

_Chad_. Mal clenched her jaw. Chad Charming was as good as dead. 

“You did so good, baby. I’m so sorry that this happened, but you are so strong and you handled it so well. You kept yourself safe.” 

“I froze.” Evie whimpered. “He’s so much taller and he kept backing me up until I was on the bed, and then he was on top of me and I froze.” Her hand went to her neck. “He was kissing my neck.” 

Mal kissed her temple and stroked her back. “You’re okay.” 

“Is there a mark?”

“It’s tiny, it’ll be gone by morning.” Mal cupped her cheek. “Did he hit you?” 

Evie nodded. “When I screamed, he covered up my mouth and I bit him.” 

“That’s my girl.” Mal peppered tiny kisses across her face, feeling Evie relax into her. “I love you.” She whispered before kissing her forehead. “I love you.” She kissed her cheek. “I love you.” She kissed the tip of her nose. 

“I love you.” Evie whispered, her voice cracking as she settled into Mal. Mal tightened her arms around her and just held her close. She played with her hair, stroking her fingers through it and gently scratching her scalp the way that Evie liked. 

There was a quiet knock on the door and they both tensed up. A few seconds later, they heard it open. “It’s Carlos.” 

Evie relaxed again, burrowing her face into Mal’s neck and closing her eyes. Her eyelashes fluttered against her skin, tickling her neck, and Mal couldn’t resist kissing the top of Evie’s head. How could someone want to hurt such a perfect human? 

“Come in.” she said back, not raising her voice so she didn’t scare her. A few seconds later, Carlos and Jay were sitting on the floor in front of the closet. Mal looked at the boys, who were both seething in anger. Jay’s hands were shaking and he was frowning. Carlos didn’t show it as obviously, but Mal could see how tense he was. 

Jay raised an eyebrow, but Mal understood the silent question and shook her head no. The boys both released a sigh at that, knowing that at least Evie hadn’t been hurt too badly. 

“E?” Carlos called out gently. 

“She’s okay.” Mal reassured the boys, continuing to hold her and stroke her hair. Evie nuzzled even closer to her and let out a content sigh. 

“Everyone is worried about her.” Carlos said. 

Mal didn’t comment on that. She didn’t care how everyone else felt. The only person in the world that mattered was sitting on her lap and finally calm, so she would stay there as long as she needed to.

After sitting in silence for a little while, there was another knock. Evie tensed up immediately and Mal didn’t blame her; they were all in the room, so who could that possibly be? 

“Tell whoever it is to leave.” Mal practically growled. 

Jay was the one to stand and go answer it. A few seconds later, he came back over to them. “It’s Ben.” 

“Who cares? Get rid of him.” 

“No.” Evie’s voice was tiny, but they still heard her. “Let him in.” 

“Are you sure?”

“Mmhmm.” Evie didn’t attempt to move off her lap, and there was no way Mal would ever make her after what just happened. Even the boys were smart enough to keep their mouths shut.

“Give me your jacket.” Mal said. Carlos handed it over and she laid it over Evie’s legs, trying to cover some of the skin. 

Jay led Ben over to the closet and Mal studied him. She could tell how nervous the future king was. 

“Sit.” Carlos ordered, and Ben sat without complaint. 

“Evie? Are you okay?” Ben asked hesitantly. 

“She’s alright.” Mal answered, knowing that Evie’s throat was probably sore from all of the screaming and crying. Besides that, she could tell her girlfriend was comfortable and she didn’t want to ruin that. 

“I am so, so sorry for what happened tonight.” Ben said, looking at each of them. “This is inexcusable, and I feel horrible that this happened while you all are under my protection. I swear to you that Chad will be brought to my father and this will be taken care of.” 

Mal felt Evie’s breath hitch at Chad’s name, and she fought her urge to go find the boy and rip him to shreds. “If he doesn’t take care of it, I will.” 

“He will.” Ben insisted. “If you need anything, please let me know. I will do whatever it takes to make you feel safe here, Evie.” 

She lifted her head, turning slightly so she could look at the boy. “Thank you, Ben.” 

“Of course. My private limo is outside waiting to take you all back to your dorms. Is there anything else you need from me?”

“Get everyone away from her.” Mal said. “Make sure there’s a path from here to the front door.” 

“You got it.” 

“Alright, time to stand, baby.” Mal told Evie. If Ben heard her say the pet name, he didn’t comment on it. By now, Mal was past the point of caring. If it was up to her, she would make an announcement that she and Evie are dating right now. No one would ever dare to touch her again. 

Mal shifted Evie to the floor, then stood. She reached her hands out and wrapped them around Evie, carefully pulling her to her feet. Carlos’s jacket fell off in the process and now her legs were completely bare, but Ben had enough sense to look away. 

Mal picked up Evie’s pants from the ground and held them out for her to step into. Evie got into them and Mal pulled them up, zipping and buttoning them. Evie wrapped both arms around Mal’s neck and leaned their foreheads together. Right now, no one else in the room mattered. This was all about Evie, and she would do whatever her girlfriend needed. Evie tilted her head down and that was all Mal needed before leaning in and kissing her lips. 

After she moved back, Mal kissed the corner of Evie’s mouth, then cheek, then her neck. She remembered that Evie had said Chad had his mouth on her neck and she waited to see if she reacted, but she just snuggled closer to her. 

“Mal?” she whispered. 

“What do you need, Princess? Anything you need I’ll give it to you.” 

“Can we go back to our room now?” 

“We’re leaving right now.” Mal glanced at the others. Jay and Carlos looked unaffected; clearly they understood that taking care of Evie outweighed keeping their relationship a secret. She looked at Ben, but his face was completely free of judgment, and he even gave her a small smile when they made eye contact. “Jay?” 

“I got her.” Jay leaned down, grabbing Carlos’s jacket from the floor. He held it out, letting Evie put her arms through the sleeves. Now that she was warm, he carefully scooped her up in his arms. “You good, E?”

“Just get me out of here.”

Mal led the way, opening the bedroom door and seeing that it was clear. Ben stepped in front of her, and Mal noticed the guards posted near the stairs. Mal led the group, followed by Jay holding Evie, and then Carlos took up the rear. Everyone stayed back as Ben guided them to his limo. He opened up the door and Mal stepped aside so Jay could get in first with Evie, then she let Carlos get in. 

“Are you coming with us?” Mal wondered. 

“Yes, but I’ll ride in the front. I don’t want to crowd her.” 

“Thank you.” Mal blurted out. 

“Of course. Again, I am so sorry that this happened. I will do everything I can to make sure nothing like this ever happens again.” 

Mal just nodded and then got into the limo. Evie was still sitting on Jay’s lap, but as soon as Mal got in, she crawled across the seat to her. She laid down with her head resting on Mal’s lap and her feet on Jay’s. She put one hand on Evie’s back and the other on top of her head, and within minutes, the other girl’s breathing had evened out. 

When they finally got to the dorms, Mal shook her shoulder. She wanted her to keep sleeping, but she knew how confused she would be if she fell asleep in one place and woke up in another, and that confusion wasn’t good for keeping her calm. 

“We’re at the dorm, babe.” Mal told her as she rubbed her back. “Wake up.” 

Evie sat up, blinking tiredly as she looked around. Mal could tell the exact moment the events of the night came back to her because suddenly, she frowned and her body tensed up. 

“You’re okay, beautiful.” Mal stroked her cheek. “Time to go inside. Don’t you want to get in our bed and cuddle?”

“Mmhmm.” Evie agreed. 

Mal got out first, followed by Evie. The passenger side door opened and even though Mal knew it was Ben, she still stepped protectively in front of the other girl. Carlos and Jay got out and stood behind them. They just stared at one another, not really sure what to say. 

“What will happen to him?” Evie questioned. Her voice sounded raw and it brought Mal back to too many memories. It was disgusting how good she had gotten at talking her girlfriend through this situation, and that she had ever had to talk her through this in the first place. 

“I don’t know. That will be up to my father.” Ben admitted. “But he will take care of it.” 

Mal reached a hand back, feeling Evie grasp it immediately. “We’ll see you later, Ben.” 

“See you later.” 

They actually rode the elevator this time, figuring that it would be easier than climbing all the stairs. Evie was still leaning heavily on Mal, so they didn’t want to push her. 

As soon as they walked into the dorm, Evie stripped out of her pants and shirt, then unclasped her bra. She climbed under the blankets and settled in. 

Mal collected Evie’s dirty clothes, knowing she would regret not picking them up tomorrow. She changed in the closet and grabbed one of her t-shirts, then went over to the bed. 

She pulled back the blankets, careful not to expose too much of Evie to Jay and Carlos. They had all seen each other in various stages of undress, but that didn’t mean Mal wanted to reveal her girlfriend’s body to the boys. Normally, she wouldn’t have a problem with Evie wanting to sleep shirtless, but she knew that what had happened tonight may trigger nightmares and flashbacks and she wanted to do everything she could to avoid that.

Mal took the shirt and slid it over her head, then lifted her arms and guided them into the sleeve holes. Evie sighed contently and just scooted closer to her, gripping her tightly in her arms. 

“Do you believe in fate?” Evie asked, her head resting against Mal’s chest. 

“I don’t know.” Mal responded as she gently stroked Evie’s cheek. 

“I do. I think the universe planned for us to be together because if we weren’t, I would be dead.” 

“Don’t say that.”

“It’s true. So much has happened and if I didn’t have you around to keep me grounded, I would have probably killed myself. You have made my miserable life a million times better, but I don’t understand why fate tied us together because I have nothing to offer you.” 

“Don’t talk like that.” Mal pulled away from her, then scooted down in bed until they were face to face. “You have so much to offer the world. It’s you who has saved me, okay? I would have no purpose if you weren’t here. You have made my life a million times better than what it should have been. Do not ever talk about you not being alive, because I will do anything to keep you here.”

A tear slid down Evie’s cheek. “I’m so dirty and used up and worthless. You deserve better.” 

“No.” Mal kissed the tear away. “You have been through so much, but those things don’t define you. Do you know what does?” Evie sniffled, but looked up at her. “You are happiness and light and love and everything that is good in the world. Your smile can change anyone’s mood around, and your voice is like music to my ears. You make me want to be a better person, Evie. I _am_ a better person because of knowing you. I don’t know how else to say the words I love you, but that doesn’t seem big enough for how I feel about you.” 

Evie cuddled into her. “Sometimes when we’re together, my chest aches and I want to tell you how much you mean to me, but I don’t know how. It’s fate, Mal. I think we are meant to be together.” 

Mal nodded. “We are. In this life and every other life, it’s you and me.” 

Evie hummed, her eyes drifting shut. “You and me.”


	11. Regress

Friday night was rough. Mal pulled out every trick in the book- cuddling, playing with her hair, rubbing her back, stroking her cheeks, warm baths, and even singing, and still Evie only slept for a total of two hours. She ended up getting up for the day at four in the morning because she was so tired of forcing herself back to sleep, and while she said Mal didn’t have to get up yet, she wasn’t going to leave Evie alone. They went into the bathroom together and sat on the floor so they could turn on the light without disturbing the boys and sketched until the sun came up. 

Mal didn’t push the issue of food. She knew that right now, Evie being comfortable and feeling safe outweighed her need to eat. Honestly, Mal even felt a little sick, so she couldn’t even fathom how her girlfriend was feeling. 

At around 10am, Evie’s eyes started to drift shut and her head bobbed back and forth as she battled with sleep. The boys were in the middle of a video game, and she wandered over to the couch to try and watch. She ended up falling asleep with her head on Jay’s shoulder. When lunch came around, he carefully snuck out from underneath her, all three teens breathing a sigh of relief when Evie stayed asleep. The boys went down to grab some lunch while Mal sat on the floor next to the couch. 

She studied Evie’s face, wondering once again how someone could hurt a person who was so genuinely perfect. Mal knew she was biased when it came to Evie, but she was pretty sure that she was the kindest, most amazing person anyone could ever meet. 

The boys brought some food back to the dorm and then settled down in front of the couch to watch a movie. The three of them didn’t bother to move Evie; they had sat in much worse places than plushy Auradon Prep carpet. Mal grabbed a plate and made sure to save something in case Evie woke up and wanted food.

By 4pm, Mal was getting a little nervous. She didn’t expect Evie to sleep this long, and while she was happy she was finally getting rest, she knew that would make nighttime more difficult. 

“You were up all night with her.” Carlos commented. “Why don’t you take a nap?” 

Mal nodded because there was really nothing else to do. She didn’t even have to ask what the boys would do; she knew that they would never leave when Evie was so vulnerable. She went over to their bed and got under the blankets, nearly falling asleep as soon as her head hit the pillow. A few seconds later, she felt the bed dip and she opened her eyes, seeing Carlos had carried Evie over. 

“Why would you move her?” she questioned. 

“She’ll be more comfortable with you.” 

Mal just wrapped an arm around Evie’s waist and pulled her closer until their bodies were molded together. Evie’s back was pressed to Mal’s chest and she let out a content sigh now that she had the blue haired girl close. Carlos grabbed their blanket and spread it over top of them and before long, Mal was asleep. 

When she woke up again, it was 9pm. Mal looked around the room in confusion, seeing that the boys were playing a video game (with the sound on mute), and Evie was still passed out in her arms. 

“Baby.” She said, shaking her arm gently. Evie didn’t even budge. Mal sat up, pulling her girlfriend with her. “Evie, babe, time to wake up.” 

Evie frowned, her lips drawing into a pout with her eyes still squeezed shut. She stretched her arms up high above her head, then sighed and leaned all of her weight back on Mal. 

“Are you still tired?”

“Mmhmm.”

“You’ve been sleeping for 11 hours.”

Evie cuddled in closer to her. “Can I sit on your lap?” 

Mal kissed her temple. “You can do whatever you want.” 

Evie moved her body so she could sit on Mal’s lap instead. “I just want to be close to you.” 

She just stroked her fingers up and down Evie’s back and let her keep resting. After a little while, she spoke again. “Are you hungry?”

“No.” 

“Do you want to try and eat something anyway?” 

Evie shook her head, then buried her face in Mal’s neck. Mal could feel Evie’s weight pressing down more and more on her until she realized that she had fallen back asleep. 

“Is she back asleep?” Jay questioned. 

“Yeah. What do I do? Do I just let her sleep?”

“I would.” Carlos answered. “Maybe getting some rest will help.” 

Mal held Evie for a while, then shifted her onto the bed so she could get up and eat the dinner the boys had brought back a while ago. Then, she got into the shower. 

Right after she washed the conditioner out of her hair, she heard a noise. She turned around just as the shower curtain opened and watched as Evie climbed in. She wrapped her arms around her from behind and Mal just leaned back into her. 

“You left me.” Evie whimpered. 

“I’m sorry, Pretty Girl.” Mal turned around. She grabbed Evie’s cheeks in her hands and gave her a soft kiss. She had been careful about not being too touchy because of what had happened, but Evie pulled her closer and deepened their kiss. 

They made out for a while under the spray of the water, but as soon as Evie’s hands starting wandering, Mal separated from her. She didn’t want her to feel pressured to do something that she most likely wasn’t ready for. 

Mal washed Evie’s hair for her, they washed their bodies, and then they got out of the shower. After getting dressed, Evie went straight back to the bed and climbed under the covers. 

“E, why don’t you come play a game with us?” Jay suggested. 

“Or we can watch a movie.” Carlos added. 

“I want to sleep.” She said, leaving no room for argument. 

Mal got into bed next to her and instantly, Evie rolled over to face her. “You’re gonna lay down now?”

“Wherever you are, that’s where I want to be.” 

Evie scooted in closer and rested her head on Mal’s chest. The purple haired girl trailed her fingers through her hair and held her until she fell back asleep.

\-----

By 2am on Saturday morning, Evie was wide awake. She was regretting sleeping so much now. The bedroom was dark and all she heard was Mal’s soft breathing, Jay’s snores, and Carlos’s sporadic sleep talking. The longer she laid there, the more she felt her heart start to race. 

She got up after a little while and took her sketchbook into the bathroom. She flipped on the light and then got into the bathtub, sinking down to sit and opening to a new page. She started to draw different outfits for her friends- leather jacket for Mal, pants for Jay, shoes for Carlos…

Evie was so into her drawing that she didn’t hear the bathroom door open. All she saw was something move out of the corner of her eye and it made her jump. 

“It’s me.” Mal reassured her. She moved further into the room with a blanket wrapped around her shoulder. “What are you doing?”

“Designing.” Evie answered, her eyes still glued to the paper; she needed to get the details of the jacket just right. 

Mal climbed into the tub next to her, moving the blanket over so they could share. She rested her head against Evie’s arm while she drew. The relaxing back and forth motion of the paper quickly lulled her back to sleep. Evie didn’t mind; she loved having Mal next to her, even if she was sleeping. 

She didn’t know how long she sat there for, but her muscles ached from being cramped up. Mal woke up after Evie had finished nearly 15 designs. 

“What time is it?” Mal wondered. 

Evie shrugged. “I haven’t checked.” 

Mal got out of the tub and went into the bedroom, returning a few minutes later. “It’s 10am.” 

Evie nodded; no wonder why her muscles felt so cramped. She stood up, nearly stumbling from the loss of blood flow to her legs. Mal held on to her arms to steady her as she climbed over the side. 

When Evie went back into the bedroom, she immediately smelled food and saw that the boys had set up breakfast on Mal’s desk. She tried to go over to her bed, but Mal grabbed her hand. 

“Please.” She said, staring at her with big green eyes. “You need to stay healthy, remember?” 

Evie wanted to scream, but she just sighed and went over to the desk. She grabbed the yogurt that was sitting there and ate it as quickly as she could, hoping that if she did it fast, she could just go to sleep after. 

As soon as she was done eating, she knew that it was the wrong choice. The weight in her stomach was overwhelming, and she tried to force her gag reflex back. She wanted so badly to throw up, but she was too embarrassed to do it with her friends in the room. With _Mal_ in the room. 

“E?” Mal questioned, reaching over to touch her hand. 

Evie snatched it back quickly, then realized who had touched her. “I’m sorry. I can’t…I’m sorry.” 

“Shhh, it’s okay.” Mal tried to reassure her. “What do you need, baby?” 

Evie’s eyes welled up with tears. “I don’t know.” 

“Come here.” Mal ordered gently. Evie reluctantly crawled over to her, then laid her head in her lap. “I’m here, Pretty Girl. Everything will be alright.” 

She shut her eyes, focusing on the feeling of Mal’s fingertips running over her face. She leaned into her touch as much as she could before falling asleep. 

\-----

The next couple days went the same way. Evie would sleep all day, and then be up all night. She could barely eat, and every time she did, she felt like she would throw up. She did finally throw up on Sunday, and she didn’t even have to put her fingers down her throat. 

When Monday morning came around, the VKs silently decided to skip school. There was no conversation, but they all knew that they weren’t going. Mal tried to convince Evie to go on a walk, but she refused and they spent the whole day in the dorm, with the exception of when Carlos left for his therapy appointment. 

Tuesday was pretty much the same. Evie did get dressed in real clothes after her shower, which was an improvement, but she still was barely eating. Mal tried to refuse going to therapy, but the boys talked her into it.

On Wednesday, Evie really didn’t feel like going to therapy. She was dreading having to see Dr. Bren, and it didn’t help that she hadn’t left the dorm since Friday.

“Come on, baby girl.” Mal whispered from where she was lying next to her. Evie was on her stomach with her face buried in the pillow, and she felt Mal’s fingers slip up her shirt and start to run up and down her back. “Are you going to shower first?” 

Evie turned towards her with a pout. “I don’t wanna go.” 

“I know, but you have to. We all agreed that it’s best to still go to therapy, remember?” 

Evie was exhausted. She was up all night the night before and didn’t fall asleep until around 11am, and now it was 2pm. She shuffled over to Mal and threw a leg over her so she could lay completely on top of her, her face buried in her neck. 

“Please don’t make me go.” 

She could tell Mal was about to crack, but a different voice joined their conversation. 

“Come on, E.” Carlos said. “I went and Mal went. Now it’s your turn. Besides that, FG is already going to be on our cases about missing class. Do you really want to hear her complain about missing therapy too?” 

Evie felt Mal sit up, bringing her with her. Mal moved back so they could make eye contact. “Carlos is right. As much as I wish we could, we can’t just hide you away forever. You’re going to have to get back out there at some point.” 

Evie bit her lip nervously. What if something happened on the way there? Or the way home? What if Dr. Bren knows what happened? What if she blames her? What if they send her back to the Isle. What if…

“Hey.” Mal put both hands on her cheeks and stroked them gently with her thumbs. “Calm down, okay? What are you scared of?” 

“No one ever told us what happened to him.” Evie blurted out as her hands started to shake. “What if he didn’t get in trouble? What if he’s outside of the dorms, waiting for me to come out? What if he comes up to me while I’m walking to therapy and…”

“Slow down.” Mal encouraged. She let go of her cheeks to instead grab her hands and she pressed a gentle kiss to the top of each of them. “I’m going to walk you to therapy and I’ll wait there for you, okay? No one will dare to come near you when they see me.” 

“We’ll go too.” Carlos agreed, throwing a look over his shoulder at Jay, who was passed out on Mal’s bed. Evie felt a little guilty; her erratic sleep schedule was starting to affect everyone. Maybe it would be best if she got back into the routine of things. 

Evie leaned forward and put her forehead against Mal’s. “Will you sit in the bathroom with me while I shower?” 

“Of course, baby.” Mal gave her a quick kiss. Evie wished it had lasted longer, but Mal was always so careful after something like this happened. She loved it, but it could also be a little frustrating. 

Evie took her time showering and getting ready, chatting with Mal as she worked. As she painted her usual makeup on her face, she realized it was the first time she had done this since Friday. If her mother had seen her, that would have been the end of her. 

“I already miss your pretty face.” Mal commented. 

“Hmmm?”

“I think you’re pretty with makeup too, but I love that you feel comfortable enough to show us the real you, even with everything that has happened with your mother.” 

Evie couldn’t help herself. She went over to where Mal was sitting on the closed toilet lid and sat on her lap, wrapping her arms around her as tightly as she could. “Thank you.” 

“For what?”

“It feels like you’re always in my head. You know exactly what to say to make me feel better.”

“Yeah, I like to think that it’s because I know you pretty well.” Mal kissed the tip of her nose. 

“You don’t have to do that, you know.”

“Do what?”

“Be so careful with me. I trust you, M. I know you would never hurt me.” 

“I know, but I don’t want to trigger any memories. I would never want you to associate us with something bad that has happened to you, so I like to wait until you’re ready.” 

Evie hugged her even tighter. “Every bad thing that has ever happened to me has been worth it in exchange for you, my love.” She heard a little sniffle and she pulled back, studying Mal. She could see the tears in her eyes. “M?”

“You’re just so fucking perfect.” Mal kissed every inch of her face, making Evie giggle. 

A knock on the door interrupted their moment. “Almost time to go!” 

Evie sobered up and stood again, finishing up her makeup. She went out into the room, seeing that the boys were sitting on the couch and waiting for them. She struggled with choosing an outfit- she didn’t want to wear one of her usual designs, but if she wore something more relaxed, people would think this whole thing with Chad was affecting her (which it was, but she could never let them see). 

Mal came into the closet and must have realized her dilemma. She had been wearing her purple sweater that Evie loved, but she pulled it over her head and handed it over. Evie put it on and inhaled, relaxing instantly at her girlfriend’s scent. 

“Thank you.” She whispered. 

“Mmhmm.” 

She paired it with some jeans and some heeled boots. When she was finally ready, she grabbed Mal’s hand and reentered the bedroom. 

“Let’s go.” Mal announced. Jay and Carlos stood without question and the four of them walked out of their dorm room together for the first time in five days. 

At first, they didn’t see anyone. But as they exited the dorm room, they saw people starting to get out of classes.

Evie kept her head held high and her gaze glued ahead of her. She didn’t want to see the judgmental stares or the pity. She realized Mal was still holding her hand and thought that maybe the only reward in this whole thing was that they could come out with their relationship. After all, Ben had seen her sitting on Mal’s lap, Mal calling her baby, and they kissed, so it was kind of obvious at this point. 

They got to the health center way too quickly and Evie felt her heart start to race. She looked at her friends, who just smiled reassuringly and sat down on the bench outside. 

“We’ll be right here.” Mal promised. 

“You’ve got this, Princess.” Jay added. 

“See you soon, E.” Carlos said. 

She took a deep breath and walked into the building. She checked in and then walked back to Dr. Bren’s office. 

“Hello Evie.” Dr. Bren greeted, sounding slightly surprised. “I’m glad to see you made it.” 

Evie just nodded, not exactly sure what to say back to that. She took her usual seat and waited for the doctor to start her questioning. 

“How are you doing?” 

“I’m okay, how are you?”

“To be honest, I’m a little concerned about you.” Dr. Bren sat across from her. “Fairy Godmother told me that you haven’t been to class in a few days. Have you been sick?” 

“Yeah, something like that.”

“You know the health center is open at all hours, right? If you’re not feeling well, you can always come here and be seen by a doctor.” 

“I don’t really like doctors.” 

“What is the medical care like on the Isle?” 

Evie shrugged. “You find a cure for whatever is wrong, or you die.” 

Dr. Bren nodded. “Do a lot of people die?” 

“If they get sick enough they do.” 

“What are the rules like on the Isle? What happens if someone does something wrong?”

“Nothing. I told you last week that being evil is encouraged.” Evie reminded her as she pinched her thigh. 

“Even if someone does something bad to a child?” 

Evie sighed. “You have to learn how to protect yourself, or find someone who can do it for you.”

“You said before that you and your friends were like a gang. Was that for protection?” 

Evie nodded. “At first, yes.” 

“Who did you need protecting from?” 

_“Stupid, worthless, little girl! You will please them or you will live on the streets and we’ll see what people do to you then!”_

Evie pinched her leg a little harder, trying to clear the memory from her head. 

_“Come on, sweetheart. You can do better than that.”_

She bit down on her tongue until she felt blood. 

_“You are mine now, my Queen.”_

Evie dug her nails into her leg and let her eyes drift shut. She couldn’t bring herself back from this. All of a sudden, faces appeared, swirling around her mind and yelling at her for everything she had done wrong. She was never pretty enough or skinny enough or smart enough or good enough…

“Evie!” 

Suddenly, it all drifted away and she opened her eyes, seeing that she was back in the health center with Dr. Bren. The woman looked concerned and Evie quickly masked her features. 

“I’m sorry, what was your question?” 

Dr. Bren looked startled by how easily she tried to hide what just happened. “Evie, I’m going to be honest with you. Fairy Godmother told me that you went to the party last weekend and while you were there, something happened.” 

Evie felt heat creep into her face. How did Fairy Godmother know? Why had she sold her out? 

“It happened, and now it’s over.” She told Dr. Bren. 

“Trauma like this can stay with you and affect your life. This isn’t something that you should just brush off. You can talk to me about it and we can try to help you heal.”

“I don’t need your help. We didn’t have fancy doctors on the Isle to help with shit like this, so I don’t need help now. I’m fine.” She stood up. “We’re finished for today.”

“Evie, I…”

“I said I’m finished. Do I have to stay?” 

Dr. Bren sighed in defeat. “See you next week.” 

Evie grabbed her bag and stormed out of the room. She threw open the doors that led to outside, relieved when she saw her friends still standing there. 

“We’re going to school tomorrow.” She announced as she began to walk. 

Mal and the boys moved quickly to catch up with her. “What made you decide that?” the purple haired girl questioned. 

“Fairy Godmother told on me.” She spat angrily. “Now apparently I’m experiencing trauma and speaking to someone I’ve only met three times is supposed to help me heal.” She whirled around to face them. “I am not going to let everyone continue to think that I’m some weak little Auradon girl. We’re going to school.” 

The other three just nodded. Evie knew school was going to be hell tomorrow, but there was nothing worse than people thinking she was weak.


	12. Blow Up

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm back with another update! As some of you noticed, I'm trying to post a chapter every weekend (right now, I have up to chapter 16 written). I love hearing your feedback and it has been so helpful with continuing to write this story- normally, I'm pretty bad about updating quickly and I am usually writing multiple stories at once, so it's hard to stay focused, but I've been trying to give this one my full attention since I'm getting good feedback for it. 
> 
> Anyway, the last chapter was kind of short, so I figured I would post another. This one was one of the first scenes I had planned when I got the idea for this story and I was so happy to finally write it, so please let me know your thoughts! 
> 
> Also, please comment and let me know what your favorite thing about this story is, and what you would like to see more of!

When Evie woke up the next day, she instantly felt a headache settling in. Her sleep schedule was still a mess, so she had barely gotten any rest, plus she had been tossing all night while thinking about going back to school. 

As soon as she opened her eyes, she came face to face with Mal. Her girlfriend gave her a small smile and tightened her arms around her. She started to hum a song quietly and Evie just sank against her. 

“You’ve got this, beautiful girl.” Mal whispered before kissing her forehead. “Whatever you can’t handle, I’ll deal with it for you.” 

“I’m nervous.”

“I know.” Mal kissed her cheek, then the tip of her nose. “It might be a little awkward today, but we’ll get through it. We’ve gotten through worse.” She kissed her lips. 

Evie returned the kiss, then pulled back after a few seconds. She rolled out of bed and went to the bathroom to get to work on her makeup and hair. She went through each step of her routine slowly to make sure she didn’t miss a step; she couldn’t look anything less than perfect on her first day back in the real world. 

She walked past Jay on her way back into the bedroom and immediately went over to the closet. She studied each of the pieces hanging up, trying to come up with a good outfit for the day. It took her a couple minutes to choose and she put it on, then walked over to the full length mirror. 

Evie couldn’t help but stare. Was the material bunching by her stomach? Did her waist look small enough? Did the shirt enhance her breasts? Was it…

“Fucking gorgeous.” Mal whispered as she came up behind her and wrapped her arms around her waist. She pressed a gentle kiss to the side of her neck and Evie involuntarily let out a whimper, feeling her knees get a little weak. 

When everyone was dressed and ready, the four of them walked down to breakfast together. As they moved through the halls, everyone turned and stared, but no one dared to speak. 

“E…”

“No.” Evie said immediately. She knew there was absolutely no way that she would be able to keep any food down with how much her stomach was bubbling. 

“You’ve barely been eating.” Jay reminded her. 

“I can’t do it.” 

“Okay, we have two choices here.” Carlos told them. “We can force Evie to eat and then she’ll be even more anxious than she already is and probably throw up. Or we can let her skip breakfast, hopefully get her calmed down, and push harder for food at lunch and dinner.” 

Mal and Jay seemed to realize Carlos was right because they both sighed in defeat. Mal grabbed a tray and started to walk through the line, Evie staying right behind her. 

They sat down at a table, the boys on one side and the girls on the other. They were hoping that no one would try and join them today, and luck seemed to be on their side. 

Evie couldn’t help but notice everyone in the cafeteria staring. No one spoke to them, but their eyes were all glued towards their table. Evie reached her right hand over and grabbed Mal’s left hand, pulling it off the table and onto her lap. 

“You okay?” Mal asked quietly. 

“I don’t know. I need _something_.” 

Evie was glad her girlfriend knew her so well. Mal pulled Evie’s hand over to her lap instead and turned it over so her palm was facing up. She started to trace swirls and patterns from below her elbow up to her palm. Evie’s eyes drifted shut as she focused on the sensation instead of what was ahead of her for the day. 

The bell rang and the four teens rose to go to English class. Mal led the way, followed by Evie, and the boys were right behind her. Though they didn’t have a conversation about it, Evie knew that they all took those spots around her as a form of protection. 

They moved through the hall together and Evie started to notice the staring more and more. In the cafeteria, people were just watching with no expression. Now, she started to get the feeling that everyone was angry based on the sneers and judging looks she was receiving. Maybe she was just being paranoid. 

“Why does everyone look so pissed?” Jay whispered behind her, probably trying to talk quietly so only Carlos heard. Now Evie’s heart started to beat a little quicker. Were they mad at her? 

“Because we just outed one of their precious princes as an attempted rapist.” Carlos responded back, and Evie knew now that they definitely thought she couldn’t hear them. She picked up her pace slightly and grabbed one of Mal’s hands. The purple haired girl turned to look at her questioningly, but something in her face must have given her away because she just squeezed her hand and kept moving. 

They got to English class and sat down. Evie noticed they instantly went on the defensive, and it felt like the first week of school all over again. Last week had been nice and much more relaxing, and she was actually starting to feel like she was getting the hang of things in Auradon. Now, they were back to square one. 

She was jolted out of her thoughts when someone slammed into her chair from behind. She jumped and Mal was instantly on her feet. 

“Watch where the fuck you’re going.” She spat. 

The guy laughed. “Why? You gonna try and slap a case on me too?” 

Mal literally growled and Evie moved, grabbing her hand and pulling her back into her seat. “Sit down. It’s not worth it.” 

“It’s definitely worth it.” Mal argued. 

“Don’t give them the satisfaction.” Evie pleaded. She couldn’t wait until this day was over. After what had happened so far, she didn’t think she would be coming back tomorrow. 

Their teacher walked in and all conversation ended. He didn’t even give the VKs a second glance, whereas normally he would call on them and be interested in hearing their perspective. 

Evie didn’t pay attention to anything he was saying. Her eyes kept scanning the room, just waiting for someone to attack. She could feel how tense Mal was beside her and knew she was thinking the same.

When the bell rang, she was so startled that she dropped her book on the ground. It echoed loudly around the classroom and everyone turned to stare. She felt her cheeks flush instantly and her hands started to shake. 

Mal leaned down, picked up her book, and shoved it in her bag before ushering her towards the door. Evie felt like she was going to throw up. Everyone was mad at her and now she had to go to class without her friends, and to make matters worse, she was going to a class that she used to have with Chad. 

“Say the word and we’ll leave.” Mal told her once they got to a quieter place in the hall where they could be alone. 

Evie bit her lip. There was nothing she wanted more than to go back to the dorm and sleep, but if she didn’t do this now she wasn’t sure she ever would. 

“We have to stay.” 

“Everybody, keep your phones right next to you. If anything happens, send a message and we’ll leave.” Mal put her hands on Evie’s cheeks, cradling her face gently. “If anyone even looks at you for too long, text me and I’ll give them something to look at.” 

“That was bad.” Jay said, shaking his head in fake disappointment. 

Evie smiled at his attempt to lighten the mood. She leaned forward and gave Mal a quick kiss on the cheek, then pulled back. “Let’s go to class.” 

Evie walked with Jay while Mal and Carlos went the opposite direction. She just stared straight ahead, hoping that if she didn’t acknowledge anyone, then maybe their reactions wouldn’t bother her as much. 

They arrived outside of Jay’s next class. “If…”

“…anything happens, text you.” Evie finished for him. 

Jay gave her a hug. “You’re so brave, Princess.”

Evie smiled back slightly and then walked towards her classroom. At least Chad wouldn’t be there to bother her anymore. Maybe she could actually focus on history for once. 

“…and she just kept saying how much she likes me. She practically begged to come to my party, and I let her because I felt sorry for her. She was hanging all over me, saying how she wanted to be a princess and she would do anything for me…”

Evie walked into the room and felt her blood run cold. There, sitting on top of one of the desks in the front row, was Chad Charming. His back was to her, but the people he was talking to looked in her direction, causing him to turn around. 

Now suddenly, the whole day made sense. Everyone was angry at her because they thought she lied about Chad trying to rape her. He was telling everyone it was her who came onto him. 

As Chad stared into her eyes, she knew whatever came next wasn’t going to be good. Slowly he grinned, then started to laugh. 

“Oh look, the little whore who tried to ruin my reputation!” his friends laughed at the comment as Chad spun his body around on the desk so now he was facing her. “You really are evil, aren’t you?” 

“Excuse me?” Evie said, her voice coming out a lot stronger than she expected. She walked further into the room and put her hands on her hips. No matter where she was living, she would always be a VK; she was not going to let him see that he was getting to her. 

“You had been begging me to touch you, but as soon as everyone caught you, you didn’t want to own up?” he slid off the desk and stood, leaving some distance between them. “Did you really think that my father would let King Adam kick me out of school over some worthless VK slut?”

The coolness in her blood disappeared as she felt herself heat up in anger. “Yes Chad, I was _begging_ when you would come find me in the hallways after I told you not. I was _begging_ when you asked me over and over again to go out with you and I said no. I was _begging_ when you pushed me into that bedroom even though I told you I wanted to go find my friends. I was _begging_ when you had to hold me down to kiss me, and I was _begging_ when I started screaming as loud as I could because you pulled my pants down.” 

Evie’s chest was heaving and she took a step forward with each statement until she was standing right in front of him. He stood over six inches taller than her, and he used every bit of those inches to try and intimidate her. 

“You are a pig and you are the type of person who belongs on the Isle. Back there, at least people would actually treat you like the trash you are.”

Chad took a sudden step forward, causing Evie to automatically step back, unfortunately giving him the upper hand. “Oh, like how they treated you?” 

The rest of the room erupted in laughter and Evie felt her heart race. No matter what she said, these kids weren’t going to believe her. They would side with Chad and believe that she had really pretended to be attacked by him. 

No matter what she did, everyone always thought she was a slut. 

Chad took another step towards her, and another, and another until Evie’s back hit the white board. He loomed over, smiling his most charming smile. “You will never belong here, bitch. No matter what you do or who you try to sleep with, we will always know that you’re just Mommy’s little slut.” 

Laughter filled the room again and they started to yell out little taunts towards her. Evie’s knees felt weak and she gripped onto the ledge underneath the board to keep herself standing. 

The teacher walked in the door with the frown. “What is going on in here? I can hear you all yelling from down the hallway!”

“Sorry.” Chad said, going over to his seat. 

“Evie, if you don’t sit now, you can count on a detention for later.” 

Evie turned and tried to leave the room, ignoring the laughs behind her from everyone else. They all know she is weak. They know exactly who she is. 

She tried to walk out the door, but her body slammed into someone. Her eyes were unfocused and it took her a few seconds to realize that the person she had bumped into was Mal. 

\-----

As soon as Mal walked into her classroom, she started to hear the rumors swirling. Her hands tightened into fists as she heard people whisper that Evie tried to say Chad raped her, how Chad would never do that, how the VKs are here to ruin their lives. Then, she heard the final straw. 

“She even tried to get Chad kicked out of school. Good thing King Adam didn’t listen.” 

Mal was up out of her seat before she could even fully process the statement. She moved quickly, only thinking of one thing. She needed to get to Evie. If Chad was at school today, then her girlfriend had already most likely seen him; after all, they do have second period together. 

She got closer to the room and she could hear laughter and Chad’s voice. She picked up her pace, watching as the teacher walked in. She made it there a few seconds later, just in time for Evie to crash into her in the doorway. 

Mal put her hands on Evie’s arms to steady her. It quickly became clear that her princess was not okay. She was shaking, her eyes were unfocused, and the entire group of kids (including Chad) sitting in the room was laughing and joking. 

It took all of three seconds for Mal to get so angry that her eyes started to glow. She walked further into the room and attention turned towards her. She stomped straight over to Chad. He opened his mouth to speak, but before he could even get a sound out, Mal had punched him so hard that his head slammed back. 

He cried out in pain, but she didn’t give him any relief. Mal wrapped her hand around the collar of his shirt and yanked him forward so he had to look at her. Blood was pouring from his nose and running down his face, but she didn’t care. 

“I heard you’re spreading rumors. I’m going to say this one time and one time only.” She raised her voice so that the rest of the students heard her. “Do not _look_ at Evie. Do not _talk_ about Evie. Do not say her name. If you see her coming, turn and walk the other way. If I ever hear about you touching her again, or even thinking about her in a negative way, I will end your useless life.” She used her grip on his shirt to pull Chad out of his seat, throwing him on the ground easily. “Stay the fuck away from my girlfriend.”

The entire classroom gasped. The teacher was yelling, but Mal couldn’t hear it over the pounding of her heartbeat in her ears. She felt Evie come up behind her and hold her hand and she squeezed back reassuringly, letting her know she was okay. 

Mal turned, gently ushering Evie towards the door. Then, Chad’s voice stopped her dead in her tracks. 

He laughed, despite the fact that he was on the ground with blood pouring out of his nose. “Wow, so you’re a whore _and_ a dyke?” 

Mal didn’t even have to move. As soon as the words left his mouth, Evie slammed past her and straight into Chad, sending another hard punch towards his face. Mal could hit harder than Evie, but the purple haired girl knew for a fact that a punch in the face never felt good, no matter how hard it was. 

A friend of Chad’s stepped forward to help as Evie kneeled on him, continuing to hit his face and chest. It took one snarl from Mal and he was back in his seat. The teacher was still screaming, but Mal stood defensively next to the fight, waiting for her moment to step in. 

The second Chad’s hand reached up to grab Evie’s wrist and prevent her from hitting him, Mal stepped in. She wrapped an arm around Evie’s waist and easily yanked her off the boy, shuffling so she was behind her. Mal stepped down on Chad’s throat. 

“Did you not hear my warning?” 

Then, an arm shoved her backwards and the teacher had thrown himself between the two of them. “Mal and Evie, get out of this classroom right now! Go see Fairy Godmother!” 

Mal knew the fight was over. She gave Chad one last menacing glare, then grabbed Evie’s hand and pulled her out of the classroom. They walked down the hallway until they found the bathroom. Mal led the way inside, knowing Evie needed to be calmed down sooner rather than later, and honestly, she just wanted a second to hold her girl and make sure she’s okay. 

Mal tried to hug her, but Evie brushed past her. “Why?” 

“Why what?”

“Why does this always happen? It doesn’t matter what I do or how hard I try, this always follows me. Even when I was nice about rejecting him, he was still pushy. He had to have known.” 

“What are you talking about, E?”

“Why do I always have to be a slut!?”

Evie’s voice echoed off of the tile walls. Mal felt her eyes glowing green again. 

“I’m going to stop you there. You are _not_ a slut, Evie. Not even close. This is on Chad, not on you. Do not put the blame on yourself.” 

“But apparently it is my fault!” Evie shouted back, finally losing it. It was true that Evie got stressed out easier than the other three, and she is a pretty emotional person, but it took a lot for her to really get angry. They had been in Auradon for nearly three weeks now, so Mal knew this had been building up for a while. 

“I was walking down the hall towards class and I heard his voice. I walked around the corner and he was telling everyone that I asked him for it. He said I begged him to come to the party, and he let me because he felt sorry for me. He said that I told him I wanted to be a real princess and that I would do anything to be one.” She shuddered, her skin growing more and more flushed as she got worked up. “He called me a whore and said I was trying to ruin his reputation and that I had been begging him until someone caught us.” Evie started to pace, running her fingers through her hair and pulling at the roots. “He told me I really am evil, and did I really think King Adam would kick him out of school for a worthless VK slut?”

“E…” Mal tried to reach out to her, but Evie brushed her off. 

“I tried to explain it to them all. I asked him if I was begging all the times I rejected him and told him not to follow me in the hall and when he held me down to kiss me or when he pulled my pants down.” The tears started to slide down her cheeks, and Mal wasn’t even sure if she realized it. “I told him he belongs on the Isle so they can treat him like the trash he is, and he said like how they treated me.” her sobs started to increase. “He kept backing me up until he had me cornered against the wall. He said I’ll never belong here.” She paused for a second. “How do they know?”

Mal was confused. “How do they know what?” 

“He said that no matter what I do or who I try to sleep with, they’ll always know I’m just Mommy’s little slut.” 

Before Mal could stop her, Evie swung her body around, slamming her right hand as hard as she could into the mirror. It shattered instantly and Mal jumped back, trying to avoid having any of it hit her. 

“Baby.” Mal whispered. She reached out to grab Evie’s hand, but she was crying so hard that she started gasping, and then suddenly, her eyes got wide. Mal had seen that happen too many times and she knew right away what would happen next. 

Evie turned and ran into the stall, slamming down to her knees and emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet. As soon as Mal reached out to help her, she heard their phones start to go crazy in their bags. Mal smoothed all of Evie’s hair back, then got up and grabbed their phones when she heard them ring for the 4th time. She found Evie’s first and answered, seeing it was Carlos. 

“Bathroom near history class.” She said before hanging up, turning her attention back to her girlfriend. Evie’s hand was bleeding everywhere, she couldn’t stop throwing up, and she was struggling to catch her breath. 

Moments later, the doors busted open and Mal turned, seeing that it was just Carlos and Jay. They both looked shocked to see the state Evie was in, and Mal guessed she would probably look the same if she saw Evie bloody and puking. 

She didn’t even know what to take care of first. She looked to the boys for guidance as they walked into the large stall with them. 

“FG is looking for you guys.” Carlos whispered as he sank down on the floor next to her. 

Jay sat next to Evie. She had stopped puking for the moment, so he reached out and pulled her back until she was sitting between his legs, her back resting against his chest. Luckily, it seemed to help her calm down and she wasn’t crying as hard anymore. He grabbed her right hand and checked the damage. Mal could see the glass stuck in it from where she sat. She couldn’t believe how horribly this day had gone. 

\-----

Evie tried to relax into Jay’s strong chest. Normally, his strength and muscles soothed her, but right now, all she could think about was Chad and the other Auradon kids. 

Jay released her hand, guiding it to rest on his thigh. “Well that’s gonna hurt like a bitch.”

“It already does.” Evie mumbled. 

“No more tears, Princess.” Jay reached up and wiped the tears off her face. 

She sighed. “Can you get my sewing kit out of my bag?”

Carlos stood and left the stall for a moment, then returned with her sewing kit. As soon as he sat back down next to Mal, Evie heard the bathroom door open. She tensed up immediately, feeling Jay’s arms tighten around her as they both looked to Mal and Carlos. They were too deep into the stall to see who it was, but the other two were sitting right in front of the open door. They both looked like they were on the defensive, but Evie at least knew it wasn’t Chad because Mal hadn’t jumped up to attack the person. 

She heard the clicking of heels and few seconds later, Fairy Godmother entered the stall. Her eyes scanned over the four of them, but she didn’t seem surprised to see them there. Jay was still holding Evie with his left arm, but he reached up with his right to flush the toilet. 

Evie opened her sewing kit and pulled out her tweezers. She used her left hand to hold the tweezers and grab a bigger piece of glass out of her right hand. She deposited the glass into Jay’s open hand. 

Fairy Godmother studied her. “Let’s go see the nurse for that. You shouldn’t have to do it on your own.” 

Evie didn’t even look away from where she was pulling out another piece of glass. “Mal can’t handle it if it’s my blood, Jay moves too quickly, and Carlos is too shaky. It has to be me.” 

FG shook her head. “An adult can help you, dear.”

Before Evie even had a chance to think of a response, Mal jumped in. “What, like how adults helped her when she came forward about Chad hurting her and they still let him come back to school? Or how the history teacher helped when he kicked Evie out, but not Chad?” 

FG sighed. “I understand you’re upset and…”

Evie was so done with this whole situation. She knew that no matter what they said or did, nothing would ever change. Chad was right about one thing- they don’t belong. 

“I want to go home.” She interrupted. 

Fairy Godmother nodded. “You can go back to your dorm after the nurse sees your hand and we talk about this.”

“No, not the dorm. I want to go back to the Isle.” 

The bathroom was silent. Fairy Godmother seemed at a loss for words and though Mal, Carlos, and Jay didn’t speak, Evie knew that if she really wanted to go back, they would go with her. 

FG sat down across from Evie. “I don’t want you to make a drastic decision, Evie.”

“These people will never accept us. At least on the Isle, we had some control. People knew not to mess with us. People here act like it’s a game to see who can hurt us more.” She put another piece of glass into Jay’s hand and then paused for a second to look at the headmistress. “It’s funny because I thought all the villains were supposed to be on the Isle, but you have plenty of bad people here.” 

Silence. 

This time, it was Mal who broke it. “Can you just tell us what you’re here for so we can get it over with? Are we in trouble for dating, or for punching Chad, or are you going to punish Evie for making up the fact that Chad tried to rape her?” 

That word made Evie feel like she had been stabbed. She flinched and Jay instantly noticed because he hugged her tighter and kissed her shoulder quickly. 

Evie felt the woman’s gaze on her, but she refused to make eye contact. “Did you know my daughter, Jane, is in your history class, Evie? After she saw what happened, she came to me immediately to explain. You’re not in trouble for hitting Chad, though I am concerned that you threatened his life, Mal.” She gave the purple haired girl a look. Evie couldn’t help but think that FG had no clue how much truth was behind Mal’s threat. “While same-sex relationships aren’t common in Auradon, they are not illegal and I wouldn’t judge you for who you are dating. And I want you to know that I do believe you, Evie.” This time, she did look up at her. “I know Chad Charming isn’t as perfect as his parents make him out to be, and I will make sure he is punished for what happened to you.”

Evie scoffed. “How? Are you going to ambush him too and tell his therapist about it?” 

“E, stop.” She heard Mal say, then sigh defeatedly. She felt instant guilt rush through her. “She’s trying to help.” 

The blue haired girl didn’t respond, instead pulling out the last piece of glass. Jay let go of her and started to feel around in her bag. Evie moved so she could kneel next to the toilet and hold her hand above it. Jay found the bottle of alcohol he was looking for and opened it, then dumped it over her hand. Evie hissed in response to the pain, but gritted her teeth and let him continue. 

“Do you have wrap?”

“Mmhmm, in the bag.” 

Carlos came over with a paper towel and held it out. Jay put all the glass onto it and let the younger boy throw it away, then searched through Evie’s bag. He found what he was looking for and started to wrap her injured hand. 

“I still want to go home.” She finally spoke. 

FG started to speak, but Mal interrupted. “We’ll talk about that later. Right now, let’s get back to the dorm.” 

Their teacher gave them each a stern look. “You have missed a lot of school this week…”

“Wow, right when I actually thought she was kind of cool.” Carlos said as he got up. 

FG just sighed and stood. “Please come to class tomorrow.” 

“Not until Chad is gone.” Jay told her. He stood, then reached out and pulled Evie to her feet, being careful of her hand. Mal took the lead, Evie following behind her, then Carlos, and finally Jay. 

Fairy Godmother shook her head as she watched them go. They had no idea how severe of trauma these Isle children faced. Just as she exited the bathroom, she saw the prince running towards her. 

“I just heard what happened. Tell me it’s not as bad as I think it is.” Ben said, clearly having run there based on his rapid breathing.

FG truly admired how caring Ben was and she knew he thought he was helping the VKs by bringing them to Auradon, but she wondered if they were really doing enough to help them. 

“Evie wants to go back to the Isle.” She informed him. Ben groaned. “You know, Mal may be the leader of their group, but it’s pretty obvious that Evie is the heart. If she leaves, they’re all going with her.” 

Ben looked at her sadly. “How do I get them to stay?”

“Surprisingly, it was Mal who didn’t seem as enthusiastic about them going back. All I know is that they’re refusing to come back to class until Chad is gone, and that we need a new mirror in the bathroom.” Fairy Godmother started to walk back towards her office. 

“Why?” Ben called after her. 

“Because Evie punched her hand through it.” She said back before turning around the corner. 

Ben shook his head. He had a lot of questions, but he knew there was one thing he really needed to do. 

He needed to have a talk with his father. 

\-----

Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos walked back into the girls’ dorm room in silence. The weight of Evie’s statement was still hanging over all of them, festering in their minds. 

Carlos knew for a fact that he wanted to stay in Auradon. He didn’t have to deal with his mother’s crazy demands or beatings, and for once, he had enough to eat. Classes were kind of fun and they were even a little challenging, and he had all the technology he could get his hands on. 

Jay felt the same as Carlos. He didn’t have to steal to impress his father, and then face his wrath when it wasn’t ever good enough. He was playing Tourney and trying new foods and making new friends. 

Even Mal was a little hesitant to return to the Isle. Here, she could just be a teenager. She didn’t have to worry when her mother’s next order would come, or when she would be punished for not being evil enough. Most importantly, she could be with Evie here. Even if up until today they could only be together in their dorm room, that was still better than the Isle. She didn’t have to worry that every time she left her girlfriend, something terrible would happen to her. 

Mal knew that she was going to have to talk some sense into her girl. There was no way they could go back to the Isle, especially without facing repercussions for not even attempting to complete their parents’ plan. 

“Well that was interesting.” Jay commented as they all settled into the room, the boys sitting on Mal’s bed and the girls on Evie’s. 

“I’m shocked.” Carlos chimed in. “You guys lasted a whole two weeks keeping your relationship a secret.” Jay laughed along with the statement. 

“I couldn’t care less.” Mal informed them. “I want people to know to stay away from _my_ girl.” 

The boys rolled their eyes at her possessiveness and went over to the couch instead. Mal glanced over at Evie, who looked so trapped in her own head that she probably didn’t even hear the conversation that just happened. 

Mal stood and reached a hand out, pulling Evie to her feet. That snapped her out of her daze a little and she held her hand without question as Mal led her to the bathroom. 

“Bath?” Evie asked hopefully. 

Mal smiled; just one more positive towards Auradon. “Yes, baby, we can take a bath.” She reached towards the faucet and turned on the water. 

They stripped out of their clothes and climbed into the warm water. Mal got in first and then Evie sat across from her so they could look at each other. Mal leaned forward, carefully brushing Evie’s hair out of her eyes. She leaned into her touch instantly. 

“I know you’re upset, and you have every right to be. But you need to keep your mind on the reason we are here. I know it’s hard and that these Auradon kids are assholes, but I’m not going to let anything happen to you again.” 

Evie bit her lip and looked down, as if she was trying to make a choice. She must have decided because then she was leaning forward until she could rest her head on Mal’s shoulder. Mal adjusted her body without a second thought, allowing Evie to get as close to her as she wanted. 

“Do you really think we can trust FG to take care of the situation?” she whispered. 

Mal stroked long strands of wet blue hair. It was a question she had been asking herself ever since they left that bathroom. “I kind of do.” She did believe that FG was a good person and wanted to help, but she didn’t think the older woman even knew how to begin to help the four of them. 

“What if this whole thing is a waste? Like I said before, the people here aren’t as good as we thought they would be. How do we know it’s any better here than the Isle?” 

“Well there’s food, there’s heat, we can take baths whenever we want, schooling matters, you don’t have to pay for things with sex, there are no psychotic murderous parents…”

Evie sighed. “I guess you’re right.” She turned her head slightly, pressing a gentle kiss against Mal’s neck. “Thank you for standing up for me today.” 

Mal sank down a little further in the water, pulling Evie even more on top of her. “I thought you knew by now that I will always stand up for you. No matter what happens, who is around, or how wrong you are, I will always be on your side.” She kissed the top of her head. “I guess we’re going to have to go back to Isle rules- no one even _looks_ at you without my permission.” 

Evie just nuzzled her neck. When they were on the Isle, Evie didn’t mind her possessiveness and knew it was a necessity to keep her safe. Mal hadn’t been sure how she would feel about that continuing in Auradon, but based on her reaction, she didn’t seem opposed. 

Mal reached down, grabbing Evie’s chin gently and tilting it up so they were making eye contact. “I will do my best to make sure that what happened with Chad never happens to you again, baby girl. You have my word.” 

Her girlfriend cuddled into her. “I trust you, M. I trust you more than anyone else on this planet.” Her voice was slow and Mal could tell she was exhausted. She wrapped an arm tighter around her and Evie let out a content sigh. 

“Then trust me and say you’ll stay here.” 

She felt Evie’s eyelashes flutter against her neck as she closed her eyes. “We can stay.”


	13. Obligations

The VKs had decided after Evie’s traumatic day on Thursday, they wouldn’t be returning to school for a while, and Jay even skipped his therapy appointment. On Friday, they didn’t show up, which they were sure no one was surprised about. 

The weekend came and went. Evie’s sleeping was still sporadic, and the others knew it wasn’t helping the situation. They were doing what they could to get her to sleep, but it didn’t seem to be working. They stayed locked away in their room with only Jay leaving at mealtimes to collect food for them.

That was another big issue. Evie hadn’t eaten at all on Thursday, she had breakfast on Friday that she then threw up and a small dinner that she barely managed to keep down, she slept the entire day on Saturday and never ate, and only had lunch on Sunday. 

When Monday rolled around, Evie had been up for over 24 hours, she was having nightmares, and even Carlos had woken up from a nightmare. Mal and Jay made the executive decision that they would be skipping school again, and they even let Carlos skip his therapy appointment. 

Looking back on things, Jay should have realized that that would have been what got them in trouble, but he was just too worried about his friends to consider the consequences. He knew Mal was in the same boat- Evie had been extremely clingy and Mal hardly left her side. 

Monday night, a little after dinner time, there was a knock on the dorm room door. Jay was sitting on the floor with his back against the couch. Carlos was on one end and Mal was on the other, and Evie was passed out on Mal’s lap. They had been watching a movie in hopes that it would lull Evie to sleep, and their plan had been successful. 

Jay cursed quietly; you would have thought he would have realized long ago that success never came without a price. 

He rose to his feet and went over to the door, swinging it open aggressively and hoping the person got the message that their presence wasn’t wanted. Fairy Godmother stood there, looking a little surprised. 

“Hello, Jay.” She greeted. “May I come in?” 

“We’d rather you didn’t.” he responded. 

She smiled undeterred. “I’m sorry, but that’s not really an option.”

“Then why did you ask?” Fairy Godmother didn’t even flinch at his rudeness. Jay stepped aside, letting her enter the room. She went over and sat in the living room chair near the others. 

Jay went back to his friends. Carlos and Mal were both sitting now, leaving space in the middle for him to sit. Evie was still asleep, luckily, though he was sure Mal wasn’t happy about someone intruding on them while one of their members (especially when that member was Evie) was asleep. 

“It’s time that we have a discussion.” Fairy Godmother began. “Could you please wake Evie up?”

“No.” Mal said seriously, tightening her grip on the girl and leaving no room for argument. “Anything else?” 

Fairy Godmother’s eyes scanned over them and Jay wondered what she was thinking. He realized that they weren’t really dressed for company. He was shirtless and wearing only sweatpants, Carlos was in an old pair of sweats and a t-shirt, Mal had on a long sleeved shirt and pajama pants, and Evie was in a big t-shirt and underwear, her legs completely bare and her underwear peeking out a little from where her shirt rode up. Jay reached over, grabbing a blanket and spreading it on top of his friend to give her a little more privacy. Mal sent him a grateful nod. 

“It’s about Chad. It’s important that she hears this.” 

Jay studied the way Mal’s jaw clenched. He knew she probably wanted to scream at the older woman, telling her about how this was one of the few times Evie slept since she was attacked over a week ago, how she had barely been eating, how she had cried so hard because of a nightmare that she lost her voice. But she couldn’t do that without exposing a weakness, and the VKs were nothing if they weren’t strong. 

“Evie.” Mal finally said, moving the girl in her arms in a half-assed attempt to wake her up. 

Jay glanced at Carlos, both of them fighting the urge to laugh. Mal and Evie had been together for over four years now and they had been witnesses to their entire relationship. Evie was a heavy sleeper, and Mal never woke her up just by shaking her. Jay knew she was trying not to expose too much of their relationship to FG, but it was still funny to not see Mal kissing Evie’s face or tickling her or calling her a sappy nickname.

Jay glanced at FG, who seemed confused by the interaction. He nudged Mal with his leg, motioning for her to hurry this up. 

“Evie.” She said a little more forcefully, her hands going to the girl’s thighs and running up and down them. 

Evie stirred. “Mmmm.” She groaned, cuddling even closer into Mal’s chest. 

Jay decided to step in and speed this along. He wrapped his arms around Evie’s waist and pulled her up into a sitting position, pinching her side. 

Her eyes opened tiredly and she looked around in confusion, rubbing her side. 

Mal shot him a death glare, knowing exactly what he had done. “I swear to God, Jay…”

“Yeah yeah, we get it. Beat his ass later for touching her.” Carlos chimed in. 

Jay barely held in his laugh, but he couldn’t stop himself from smiling. “Some of us actually want to get this over with instead of watching you try to wake her up for three hours.” 

Fairy Godmother cleared her throat, interrupting their conversation. The four teens’ heads swiveled in her direction, Evie looking extremely confused to see her there. 

“Hello, Evie. Sorry to wake you, but I have some news for you all about Chad.” 

From how Jay had moved her, Evie was now sitting half on Mal’s lap and half leaning against Jay’s arm. Because of this, he felt her tense up immediately at the boy’s name. His hands instantly tightened into fists; Evie was the most genuinely good person he had ever met, and she shouldn’t ever have to feel afraid.

“Prince Ben and I spoke to King Adam about everything that has happened and given him our personal recommendations. Chad has officially been expelled from Auradon Prep. He will return to Cinderellasburg, and he is not permitted to be anywhere on Auradon Prep’s campus.” 

Jay felt the whole group give a collective sigh of relief. With no hesitation, Mal leaned forward, pulling Evie into a hug. 

“It’s over, baby.” He heard her whisper. “You’re safe.” 

After indulging for a moment, Evie moved back. For some reason, Jay got the impression that that wasn’t all Fairy Godmother had come for, and he figured his friends felt the same way. 

“Evie, I want you to know that we are all dedicated to helping you feel safe in Auradon. What happened to you is inexcusable, and I feel so deeply disgusted that you had to go through something so terrible. If there is anything we can do to help you, please let us know.” 

“Thank you.” Evie said quietly. Jay knew that wasn’t what she had actually wanted to say, but she had been raised to keep her opinions to herself, especially negative ones, and that was a hard habit to break. 

“What are you going to do about all the people who will bully her?” Mal demanded. While Evie could be hesitant, Mal was the total opposite. Jay nodded in approval; if Mal hadn’t of said something, he would have. 

Fairy Godmother frowned. “What do you mean?” 

“These kids have been friends with Chad since they were born. You saw how they treated her in class the other day. Do you honestly think that’s going to stop since Chad got kicked out?” 

“I’m hoping that they will be mature enough to realize their friend was wrong. These are good kids, they…”

“Good kids?” Mal scoffed. “Yeah, the ones calling Evie a slut or a whore are awesome.” He felt Evie tense up again as tension filled the room.

“Please, just give them a chance to prove you wrong.” 

Jay laughed, causing Evie, Mal, and Carlos to look at him in surprise. “They did prove us wrong. We thought we were coming to Auradon where we would be safe and accepted by all these ‘good kids’. Instead it’s just the same shit, different place.” 

Evie shuddered against him. “Jay.” Mal growled, causing him to shut his mouth. He hated himself for possibly revealing too much, but he needed to say it.

“Sorry, Princess.” He mumbled, but he could tell Fairy Godmother had heard him. 

Fairy Godmother studied them all for a second, her stare making Jay uncomfortable. Finally, she spoke. “I am sorry to bring this up now, but the four of you need to begin going to classes again. I understand this is a big change and so much has happened, but you are here to get an education and it’s my responsibility to make sure that you do. If there’s something I can do to make you feel safer when going to class, then I will try my best.” 

“There is.” Mal said instantly. “Switch my schedule to match Evie’s.” 

“Do you have copies of your schedules?” 

Carlos stood, going over to Evie’s desk and pulling them out of her carefully organized folder. He returned to FG and handed her all four of them. “Jay and I want to have the same schedule as the girls too.” 

Fairy Godmother scanned over them. “Mal, Magical Control is a requirement for you. Also, I can’t imagine you really enjoying a Fashion Design class.” 

“Yeah, well I enjoy Evie being safe a hell of a lot more.” 

“I will speak to Prince Ben tonight and see what I can do.” She promised, tucking the schedules into her bag. “Next order of business is therapy.” All four teens groaned loudly, causing her to sit up a little straighter. “What’s wrong with therapy?” 

“Would you want a stranger to dig into your past?” Jay wondered. 

“Dr. Bren is just there to help. From what I’ve heard, the four of you aren’t exactly participating. I’m sure you would find more benefit to it if you actually answered her questions.” 

“Does she tell you what we say?” Evie questioned. 

“If she believes it is something important for me to know, she will inform me.” 

“And you tell her things too?” 

“If she needs to know.” 

“I’m not okay with that.” Evie said, surprising the others. She wasn’t big on talking back, especially to authority figures, but here she was challenging Fairy Godmother. Jay almost smiled with pride. “I don’t like that you told Dr. Bren what happened with Chad.” 

“I was just trying to help you, Evie.” 

She bit her lip and Jay could tell she was getting anxious. He glanced over and saw that Mal must have noticed too because she reached her hand up and started twisting her fingers through the ends of Evie’s long hair. 

“We’re not wired to tell people our business.” Evie stated hesitantly. “On the Isle, if you told someone the wrong thing, you were going to be punished or worse. Secrets were what kept people alive.” 

Fairy Godmother nodded. “I know it doesn’t seem like it with everything that just happened, but you are safe here. You don’t have to worry about someone hurting you for saying the wrong thing.” 

“I’m sure you understand why it will take us a while to believe that.” Mal interrupted. As soon as she knew Mal would take over the conversation for her, Evie leaned forward and rested her head on her girlfriend’s shoulder, not caring anymore about making the headmistress uncomfortable. Jay looked at her eyes and could tell how close she was to mentally checking out of this conversation. 

“That’s fair.” FG agreed.

“So go to class and go to therapy.” Jay summarized the conversation. “Anything else?”

FG actually seemed like she was hesitating before she said the next thing. She looked at Jay, then Carlos. “We have noticed that the two of you are never in your dorm room.” 

Jay glanced at Carlos. This was the last thing he expected her to bring up. “Yeah, we usually spend time with the girls.” 

“Have you been sleeping in the girls’ room?” she looked around, the question clearly being answered when she noticed Carlos’ and Jay’s clothes strung across one side of the room, their backpacks and shoes thrown carelessly on the floor. 

“Yeah.” Carlos answered.

“I’m not sure if this was explained during your tour, but it is against the rules.”

“Why?” Mal scoffed. 

“I’m sure you can imagine why people wouldn’t want a boy and a girl to sleep in the same room.” 

“But who cares? Everyone knows now that Evie and I are dating. It’s not like we’re going to be fucking them.” She gestured towards the boys. 

“Mal, watch the language please.” She sighed. 

“That rule is bullshit.” Jay argued. “We’re not going to be that far away from each other.” 

Fairy Godmother opened her mouth to speak, then shut it for a moment before opening it again. “If you can give me one good reason why you should be able to sleep in the same room, maybe I will consider it.” 

Jay couldn’t help but admire how dirty she played. She knew that the four of them would never reveal a weakness to her, especially after just telling her they didn’t like therapy because it dug into their past. There was no way they could casually say they felt safer together without revealing too much. 

Jay stayed quiet and he knew Carlos wouldn’t speak either. They both turned to look at the girls. Evie was still laying against Mal and most likely not even paying attention anymore. The leader of the group looked at each of her friends, then towards Fairy Godmother. They had clearly all come to the same conclusion and just stayed quiet. 

“Well that settles it then.” Fairy Godmother stood. “Starting tomorrow, you will come back to school, Mal will attend therapy, and the boys will sleep in their own dorm room. As always, if you have any issues, come and talk to me. I will see you in the morning.” She let herself out of the dorm room. 

As soon as they were alone, Carlos broke the silence. “Standing up to Fairy Godmother? That was pretty badass, E.” 

Mal smiled, putting her hands on Evie’s cheeks and raising her face so they were making eye contact. “Carlos is right. My girl is so brave.” 

Jay reached out and patted her shoulder. “We may still have a chance with getting you to stop with the whole manners thing.”

Evie laughed. It wasn’t as loud or as cheerful as her actual laugh, but it was still a laugh. “You guys are annoying.” 

“So, what’s the plan from here?” Jay wondered, turning to Mal. “Are we actually going to do what she said?” Evie and Carlos both looked to her too, the three of them waiting to hear the purple haired girl’s opinion. 

“I do think we’ll be making our lives harder if we don’t go to school or therapy.” She said. “FG is the headmistress, so she’s going to know if we don’t show up to class. If she can switch our schedules around, then I think school will be fine.” She sighed. “I know we all hate therapy, but they told us in the beginning that it was nonnegotiable, so as much as that sucks, we’re going to have to go. I’m not sure how I feel about actually participating, like FG said, but we should at least make an appearance.” She looked at the boys. “Maybe you can spend some nights in your dorm and sneak in on other nights. They’re not separating us.”

“Agreed.” Jay told her, the other two nodding along with him. “If we’re two floors apart, there’s no way any of us will ever sleep, and someone has shown us how hard that is.” He ran a hand through Evie’s messy hair affectionately. 

“I’m sorry.” She said, her cheeks flushing. 

“There’s no one else in the world I would stay up for.” Jay kissed her cheek. He felt a sharp pain in his arm and pulled back. “What the fuck!?” 

“First off, don’t ever pinch her again.” Mal told him. “Second, keep your lips to yourself.” 

“Damn, E. Your girl is a little too clingy.” 

Evie just laughed, settling back into Mal’s chest. After a few seconds, she sat up and frowned, her attention going to her girlfriend’s face. “Say it.”

“Huh?”

“I can tell you want to say something. Just say it.” 

Mal glanced at each of them. “I never got the chance to tell you guys this because shit hit the fan, but I found our angle.” They all looked at her in surprise, immediately realizing she was talking about their plan. “It’s Ben.” 

Jay was confused, but Carlos spoke up first. “Explain.” 

“Ben was the one who wanted to bring us over, right? At the party he was telling me all about how it has always been his dream to right the wrongs of our parents. I know that everyone else might not be eager to have us here, but Ben fought for us to come over. He said that even though he doesn’t know much about the Isle, he wants to learn so that all the children on the Isle can have a fair shot.” 

Jay, Evie, and Carlos instantly perked up at that information. “Seriously?” the white haired boy asked. 

“This couldn’t be more perfect.” Jay agreed.

Mal nodded. “Ben is our angle. Now we just have to figure out how to play this.” 

Evie cuddled into her again. “Can we plot tomorrow? I’m tired.” 

Mal immediately settled down, dropping the whole conversation. “Whatever you want, baby girl.” 

Carlos played the movie they had paused when FG came in and the four of them went back to their previous positions. Tomorrow, things would change, so they at least had to make the best of tonight. 

\-----

Ben sat in his office, staring straight ahead at the wall. He knew that right now, Fairy Godmother was talking to the VKs about the decision his father had come to. 

He clenched his hands in fists, still disgusted by how casual his father had been about everything that happened. 

_“They came here for a better life, Dad! Do you know what we have to show for it? Attempted rape.”_

_King Adam shook his head. “Ben, you need to bring in your temper. I know that you’re upset and…”_

_“Upset!?” Ben shouted, his voice booming loudly in the quiet room. “I’m beyond upset! My whole life, I have wondered about the kids on the Isle. My first act as future king was to bring four of them over, and then when they are here, one of them is attacked by a person who has been my friend for as long as I can remember!” he shook his head. “Have you even seen them? They’re quiet and they stay to themselves, but you can see how much they love each other. They’re just scared kids trying to fit in in a whole new world.”_

_“I know you don’t want to hear this, but no matter what happened here, it’s still better than what they faced on the Isle, I’m sure.” Adam put a hand on his shoulder, as if that was supposed to be comforting._

_Ben brushed him off. “Anything that happened to them on the Isle is because of the rules you made.”_

_“Ben…” Adam called after him._

_“May I chime in here?” Fairy Godmother interrupted before Ben could storm out of the room._

_In his rage, he had forgotten that FG and his mother were sitting there too. He turned around so he could hear what she had to say._

_“King Adam, the children have not had any major issues since coming to Auradon. They were attending class and therapy up until the incident with Chad. I was a witness to the events after Evie saw Chad in class today, and Jane saw what happened. She said that the way Chad and the other boys spoke to Evie was heartbreaking, and I could tell how affected she was even after the fact. This poor girl left everything she knows to come here, and then she is attacked and taunted by people who she has been told were good for her entire life. Imagine if the situation was reversed and you sent Ben away. How would you feel?”_

_Ben saw his father clench his jaw as he thought of what happened. “I would never send my son away.”_

_“Adam.” This time, it was Belle who spoke. “You need to think of this a little more objectively.”_

_“Chad is a good boy. He’s from Auradon.” Adam argued._

_“Everyone thought Gaston was good too, but you saw what he was capable of.” Belle practically whispered. Ben felt sick when he remembered the things his own mother had been through. He knew that he couldn’t allow the VKs to be treated the same way ever again._

_“They won’t come back to classes until Chad is gone.” Fairy Godmother announced._

_Ben went over, wrapping an arm around Belle. The three of them stared at the king, wondering how he would react._

_King Adam’s hands flexed for a moment, clenching and unclenching. He gave one short nod. “I’ll speak to Prince Charming.” He exited the room without another word._

Ben heard a knock on his office door and he called out for whoever it was to come in. He sat up a little straighter when he saw that it was Fairy Godmother. 

“Did you talk to them?” he wondered, gesturing for her to take a seat. 

“I did.” She sat across from him. “You know, you definitely chose the most difficult Isle children you could find.” 

Ben smiled apologetically. “Go big or go home, right?” he shut his laptop. “How did they react? Do they need anything?” 

“They are a fascinating group.” Fairy Godmother explained. “I’m sure you know that Evie and Mal are a couple?”

“Yeah, I kind of assumed when I saw Evie sitting on Mal’s lap and the two of them kiss after everything that happened with Chad.” He said the boy’s name in disgust. Chad may have been his friend, but what he did was inexcusable and Ben would be fine with never seeing him again. 

“The dynamic between the four of them is unlike anything I’ve ever seen before. They are all so in-tune with each other’s emotions, almost like they are one person. Evie was asleep on top of Mal when I got there, and they all refused to wake her up until I told them I had news about Chad. When they finally did, Mal got upset with Jay, and Carlos said something about Mal beating Jay’s, um, _butt_ later for touching Evie.”

“Really?” Ben listened with extreme focus.

“Evie was on her lap the entire time I was there, and she was dressed in only a t-shirt. Mal started playing with her hair and Evie had no problem laying on her chest. I have never seen a relationship like it.” 

“Well if you think about it, it doesn’t seem like there were a lot of positives on the Isle.” Ben said. “Maybe being together was the only happiness they got.” 

“I just don’t think it’s healthy for two people who are so young to already seem so dependent on each other.” 

“We can keep an eye on it.” Ben agreed. “What did they say when you told them they had to go to school and therapy?” 

“Mal wanted to know what we will do about people bullying Evie for coming forward about Chad.” Fairy Godmother looked upset, and he was curious to know what else had been said. “During the altercation with Chad, other students were calling Evie derogatory names. I tried to ask them to give them a chance to prove them wrong…” 

She trailed off, causing Ben to frown. “What did they say?”

“Jay told me they already did prove them wrong and they thought they would be safe here, but it’s just the same, uh, _stuff_ , different place.” 

Ben tilted his head in curiosity. “What does that mean?” 

“I’m not sure.” Fairy Godmother shook her head. 

Ben almost didn’t want to know the answer, but he had to ask. “Do you think that maybe they have been through this before?” 

“I want so badly to say no, but based on their reactions, I think it’s a possibility. After Jay said it, Mal got upset and he apologized to Evie, who I noticed he calls ‘Princess’.” 

“Remember when she came here, she told us her mother is a queen, so she is a princess. Maybe everyone on the Isle referred to her as ‘Princess’.” Ben theorized. 

“When I asked if there’s anything we can do to make them feel safer going to class, they asked to have their schedules switched so they match. I reminded them that Mal has to go to Magical Control, and I asked if she would enjoy having Evie’s Fashion Design class, and she told me that she cared a lot more about Evie being safe than her enjoying a class.” 

“Did you tell them you would switch it?” 

“I took their schedules and said I would speak to you.” She pulled the four papers out of her bag and laid them on Ben’s desk. 

“Are they going to start going to therapy?” 

“When I brought it up, they all groaned and said they hate therapy because they don’t want someone digging into their past. I talked to them about how they may like it more if they participated. Evie told me she doesn’t like the fact that Dr. Bren and I share information with each other, like how I told Dr. Bren about what happened with Chad.” 

Ben could understand that. He imagined they felt pretty uncomfortable with people talking about such personal things without their permission. 

“She also said they’re not wired to tell people their personal business, and that secrets are the only reason people survive on the Isle. She said if you tell someone the wrong thing, you will be punished or worse.” 

Ben felt sick at that information. He couldn’t fathom what these teenagers had been through, and it was exactly why he wanted to help give all the children on the Isle a chance, and exactly why he had fought so hard against his father to have Chad kicked out of school. 

“After that, she kind of shut down and just laid against Mal and didn’t speak for the rest of the time I was there.” 

“Did you bring up the boys sleeping in the girls’ room?” 

“They weren’t happy.” Fairy Godmother stated. “They got very vulgar.” 

“What do you mean?” Ben questioned. He had sent Fairy Godmother to talk to them because he thought they may react better to hearing the information from her instead of him. He got upset at the idea that they had somehow hurt her. 

Fairy Godmother’s cheeks flushed as she spoke. “Mal said we already know she and Evie are dating, so it’s a pointless rule because they won’t be sleeping with the boys. They didn’t want to be away from each other, and I told them if they could give me one good reason why, I would consider letting them stay.”

“Did they?”

“No. I knew they wouldn’t because that would involve exposing part of their past, and they are still too hesitant and untrusting to do that. I told them that starting tomorrow, they would have to go to school and therapy, and the boys need to sleep in their own room. That was the end of the conversation.” 

“Thank you for speaking with them, FG.” Ben smiled at her. “I know that eventually, they will feel more comfortable with you. You’re the perfect person for this job.” 

“Ben, I don’t want you to be naïve about this situation.” She cautioned. “These children have some serious issues, and it’s obvious that they have been through a lot of trauma. They are struggling and it will probably be a while before they are able to let go of their past. I don’t know if it’s the best idea to bring over more kids right now.” 

“No, I will wait until Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos are settled first, and then I want them to help me. Maybe they’ll be able to make some suggestions on what I need to do to help the Isle. I want them to be involved.” 

Fairy Godmother nodded. “You have a good heart, just like your mother.” She stood. “I will see you tomorrow.” 

“See you tomorrow.” 

As soon as FG opened the door to leave, Ben saw Audrey standing outside. She smiled and hugged the headmistress, but he could tell that she had been there for a while. She shut the door so they were alone and came over, taking the seat FG had just vacated. 

Ben studied his girlfriend. “How much did you hear?”

“Almost all of it.” Audrey admitted. “I’m a bitch.” 

He came around and sat on the edge of his desk in front of her. “Why do you think that?” 

“Chad has always been weird.” She said. “He’s always had girls all over him, and they’re all fine with it because he’s a prince. I was so mean to Evie because I thought it was the same with her.” She nearly whispered the last part. 

Ben grabbed her hand. “Come here.” She stepped forward, giving him a hug. “You didn’t know.”

“It doesn’t matter. I judged her the second I saw her because she is gorgeous and intelligent. Chad was always obsessed with me, and as soon as she came, he didn’t care about following me around anymore. I know that sounds so bad because I’m dating and in love with you, but it was weird not being the center of everyone’s attention. Everyone loves Evie’s clothes and hair and makeup…” 

Ben just tightened his arms around her. “Like I always tell you, you need to let go of this. Be happy with what you have, Audrey. You shouldn’t compare yourself to everyone else.” 

“I called her a slut.” Audrey’s voice choked up and Ben realized she was crying. “Do you remember? The night of the party, I said something about how she was dancing like a slut and asked Mal if Evie only slept with Jay or if she slept with the entire Isle.” Audrey let out a sob. “And then she almost got raped right after.” 

Ben tried to comfort her. He didn’t know what to say to soothe her. Audrey had always battled with insecurities and when her self-esteem was low, she lashed out towards others. It wasn’t okay and he couldn’t defend her for it, but he hated that she was beating herself up so much. 

“You should have seen her in that room.” Audrey pulled back slightly so she could make eye contact with him. “She was hiding in the closet and her hands were over her ears and she was just screaming. I have never heard a person scream like that, and no matter what Lonnie did, she wouldn’t stop. She just screamed and cried.” Audrey bit her lip. “Sometimes when I fall asleep, I have nightmares about it. What if Chad had actually done it?” 

“You can’t think about that.” 

“When Carlos and Jay finally got there, she didn’t even react. You could tell how raw her throat was from all the screaming, but it was like Evie wasn’t even there.” She breathed shakily. “When I told Mal to get inside, she busted into that room so quickly. Her eyes were actually glowing, Ben. I’ve never seen anything like that before.” 

“It seems like she’s very protective over Evie.” Ben agreed, brushing a piece of hair behind Audrey’s ear. 

“I called her a slut, and I yelled at her for throwing herself at Chad, and for not feeling honored that a prince wanted to take her on a date. Now that I know what happened, I keep thinking back to all the times I saw them. Chad was always so close to her, and Evie looked so uncomfortable. I just remember that day Chad touched her arm at lunch and she looked like she was going to throw up until Mal stepped in. It’s so obvious now that Evie didn’t like him. I wish you and I had seen it then. I wish we had been able to stop this.” 

“Honey, there’s no way we could have known at the time.” Ben said. “But now we do, and we know that she’s going through a lot. You heard what FG said about them being worried about people bullying Evie, right?” Audrey nodded. “Maybe that’s where we can make up for what happened. We can defend Evie when people lash out at her about Chad, because you know they will.” 

Audrey nodded quickly in agreement. “Of course. Is there anything else we can do?”

Ben shrugged. “Maybe it would help Evie to have a friend.” 

Audrey seemed to shrink. “What if she doesn’t like me?”

“I think she’s a pretty nice girl. You just never really gave her a chance.” He shrugged. “It wouldn’t hurt to try.”

Audrey just hugged him tighter. “I hope you can help them. I hope that even with what happened, they are safer here than on the Isle. No one deserves to go through that.” 

“We’re going to help them.” Ben promised, resting his chin on top of her head. “No matter what we have to do, we’re going to help.”


	14. Back to Business

As soon as the four of them woke up on Tuesday morning, Carlos could tell it was going to be a long day. Everyone was on edge and seemed to be preparing for battle. 

Carlos was up first, finally sick of the tossing and turning. Evie got up next so she could get to work on her extensive makeup routine. She waved slightly and gave him a small smile when she noticed he was up, then went into the bathroom. 

He decided to join her. It had been a while since they had talked one on one, and maybe he could give her a little encouragement. He lifted himself to sit on the counter next to her. 

“You okay?”

“No.” Evie admitted. “You?”

“Nope.” Carlos watched as she started to moisturize her face. He didn’t know a lot about makeup, but he had seen Evie do it enough to at least know some of the basics. “Do you think they’ll actually let us all match our school schedules?”

“FG seemed pretty genuine about wanting us to ask for help. It would be kind of shitty of her to say all that and then not even try and do what we asked for.” Evie sighed. “I just wish we could have no one else in our classes. I miss learning and I even liked some of the work we did, but I don’t want to see anyone.”

“I miss the work too.” Carlos told her, making her crack a smile. “We really are nerds, huh?”

“Yep.” She said with a giggle.

A moment later, Mal came into the room. Her hair was sticking up everywhere and she still looked half asleep. She instantly wrapped her arms around Evie’s waist and gave her a quick kiss on the back of the neck. “Morning, beautiful girl.”

“Good morning.” Evie replied, not looking away from the mirror. 

Mal stood there and held her for a minute, then kissed her shoulder and went back into the bedroom, probably to get dressed.

Carlos picked back up the conversation. “Maybe we can do something after class today. It’s been a while since we’ve gone to the library.”

“Maybe.” Evie agreed. He knew she wouldn’t agree right away; they needed to see how the day went first. But he wanted to at least give her a possibility of something to look forward to, especially since Mal would have to go to therapy after school. 

Mal came back in again, this time fully dressed. She quickly went to the bathroom- privacy was almost nonexistent on the Isle, so they had gotten over that a long time ago- then washed her hands. 

“Have you done lipstick yet?” Mal wondered. 

“No.” 

She reached out and grabbed Evie’s chin, turning her face towards her so she could kiss her lips. Carlos shook his head in amusement, trying to hold in his smile. 

“Now it’s a good morning.” Mal stated. 

“I miss when you didn’t say cheesy shit.” Jay announced his entrance, bumping Mal with his shoulder as he passed her to use the toilet. 

“I missed when we didn’t have to watch you take a piss.” Mal shot back. 

“We just watched you!” Carlos said, pointing towards himself and Evie. 

“That’s different. You don’t actually have to see anything when I go to the bathroom.” 

Carlos looked at Evie, seeing that she wasn’t even smiling from this conversation. He took a closer look and could see that she was gripping the counter so hard her knuckles were white. He looked at her and noticed her eyes squinting uncomfortably and figured that she had a headache.

Jay and Mal were still bickering. Evie held up her mascara wand and tried to put some on her eyelashes, but Jay shoved Mal playfully, causing her to fall back into Evie. Mascara smeared across her cheek and her entire face fell. 

“Can you all just get the fuck out!?” Evie yelled, turning around to face them. “Now I have to start all over!” The room was immediately silent. Evie rarely raised her voice, so when she did, people listened. 

Mal, Jay, and Carlos filed out like scolded children, the door slamming loudly behind them. They went over and sat on the couch. 

“Well, safe to say that she’s pretty on edge today.” Jay said quietly. 

Carlos frowned at him. “Did you really expect anything different? She’s nervous and uncomfortable and about to walk into a situation where she has no idea how people will react. How would you feel if you were her?” 

Mal nearly growled. “I swear that if anyone says anything to her, I will kill them with my bare hands.” 

“Okay, stop.” Carlos interrupted. “You both need to calm down. I’ve been noticing lately that Evie feeds off of our emotions. Yeah, she’s upset and nervous, but if we act like that too, it’s only going to make her feel worse. We need to try and stay positive for her and be supportive.” 

Mal nodded. “You’re right.” She put her head in her hands. “How do I play this? Do we act like we’re together, or should I stay away from her?” 

“Thanks to your announcement, everyone knows you’re together. I’m sure it doesn’t matter anymore.” Jay said, Carlos nodding in agreement. He didn’t think it would benefit them at all to continue pretending the girls weren’t together, and he was pretty sure Evie would need Mal today. 

Carlos and Jay got dressed, then joined Mal in checking all of their backpacks. They hadn’t been to school in a while, so they had to make sure that they had everything they would need. 

The bathroom door opened and Evie walked into the room. The three of them immediately stopped what they were doing and looked over at her. Carlos noticed her red eyes right away, and he was sure she had spent extra time trying to cover blotchy cheeks and tear tracks. 

“I’m sorry.” Evie said, instantly sucking in a breath and starting to cry. 

“Hey, no, no, no.” Mal ran over to her and cupped her face in her hands, gently wiping at her tears. “None of that.” 

“I’m a bitch.” Evie moaned miserably. “I’m sorry.” 

“We’re not mad.” Carlos reassured her, coming over to stand beside Mal. He grabbed Evie’s hand. “We know you’re nervous.”

“Yeah, we’re not taking it personally.” Jay joined in. 

“You guys have done nothing but try and help me and then I yelled at you.” She whimpered. 

“Evie, stop.” Mal interrupted. “This conversation is unnecessary. No one is upset with you. We all love you and we want you to have a good day, and this is not a good start to that. Close your eyes and listen to me.” Evie let her eyes shut as Mal continued to hold her cheeks. “Today is going to be hard, and it may be weird. But we are going to get through this. You are going to get through it, because you are strong and incredible and amazing, and if you start to feel like you’re not, you have back up. Hopefully we’ll see Ben and he can talk to us about our schedules, and even if he doesn’t, I’m going to classes with you today no matter what. Maybe FG is right and the Auradon kids will surprise us. Maybe they will be supportive and all of this worrying is for nothing. Open your eyes.” Evie’s eyes fluttered open. “Wanna know the best part?”

“Hmmm?”

“We don’t have to hide the fact that we’re together anymore.” She gave her a gentle kiss. “If you get upset, I can hug you or hold your hand or kiss you and no one will be surprised.” Mal gave her another quick kiss. “I’m not even worried about today because I know you’ve got this.” 

“Same.” Carlos said. 

“Yep.” Jay agreed at the same time. 

Carlos glanced at the clock. “We have to go if we’re making it to breakfast.” 

Mal put her forehead against Evie’s. “Time to get back on schedule, remember?” 

Evie looked miserable again, but she nodded reluctantly. They waited on her to get dressed and then the four of them grabbed their backpacks and left the dorm room. 

\-----

Evie expected someone to be waiting there to hurl insults at them as soon as they walked out of their building. She was surprised instead to see that there were only a few kids, and they all walked past them without a second look. 

She reached down and tangled her fingers with Mal’s. The one thing she was looking forward to was being able to touch her girlfriend whenever she wanted. Mal brought their joined hands up to her lips and kissed the back of Evie’s hand. 

They walked into the cafeteria and people stared. Evie leaned into Mal’s side and kept her gaze glued to the floor. She didn’t want to see their judgment or anger. 

Mal led the way to the lunch line and let go of her hand so she could grab their trays. She started to select food for both of them. 

“Not a lot. Please.” Evie whispered. 

“I’ve got you, Princess.” She put a bowl of pineapples and a glass of water on her tray. Evie was grateful; her eating habits had been a mess and she didn’t think there was much of a chance of her holding down solid food. 

After the boys had stacked as much food as they could fit on their trays, they all went to look for a table. Evie scanned the room quickly, hoping to find an empty table. 

“Hey guys!” Lonnie greeted as they walked past her at an empty table. “I saved you some seats.”

Mal turned to Evie, and she knew she was asking for her permission. Evie gave a small nod, figuring that at least if they were next to an Auradon kid who did like them, it would discourage others from being mean. 

Evie saw Mal look over at Jay and raise her eyebrow. She wondered what they were doing, until she went to sit down and had Mal on her right and Jay on the left. Carlos sat down across from them and next to Lonnie. 

“Good morning!” Doug said with a smile, putting his tray down on Carlos’s other side. “Glad you guys are finally back.” 

Evie looked up at him curiously. Someone had actually noticed their absence? Sure, she and Doug talked in chemistry, but she wouldn’t exactly call him a friend. Maybe there were some people here who weren’t completely terrible. 

“Hey.” Evie was surprised when this time, it was Audrey who spoke. She came over and sat next to Jay. Evie looked at Mal, who seemed just as perplexed. 

“Oh good, you’re all here!” Ben said as he took the last seat at their table, next to Lonnie and across from Audrey. “I have your new schedules for you.” 

He passed them out to each person, who immediately handed it to Evie. She lined them all up and started to look, Mal and Jay reading from either of her sides.

“They’re not the exact same, but we did the best we could to move them around and still incorporate your interests.” Ben explained. 

“1st period, we all still have English.” Evie read. “2nd period, we have Study Hall, boys, and Mal, you have Art.” She wouldn’t say it out loud, but she was happy her girlfriend would still get to have art class because though Mal wouldn’t admit it, it was her favorite. “3rd period, we all have Math.”

Jay laughed loudly. “Wow, Mr. Reynolds almost had an aneurism when we were separated. Can you even imagine his face when we all walk in together?” Mal smirked too, just about to open her mouth, when Ben interrupted. 

“Please don’t terrorize your teachers.” 

Evie interrupted before they could continue to cause trouble. “4th period we have Goodness, 5th we have History…” 

“I’m not okay with this.” Mal blurted out, pointing to their next classes. 

Evie kept reading, seeing that all of their 6th periods were different. She had Fashion, Mal had Magical Control, Carlos had Technology, and Jay had Physical Education.

“Fairy Godmother and I decided to keep your 6th period classes separate so you could still do the things you’re interested in.” 

“You can put me in Fashion then.” Mal announced. 

“It’s a requirement for you to take Magical Control.” 

“Then I’ll take Fashion.” Carlos chimed in. 

“Yeah, sign me up too. I’ve been wanting to learn how to make some new pants.” Jay agreed. 

“Evie, we moved you from 5th bell Fashion to 6th bell because I knew there was someone there to look out for you.” Ben explained. 

“Who?” Mal demanded. 

“Me.” Audrey said, causing the VKs to look at her in surprise. “I have Fashion at the same time as you now, Evie, and trust me, no one will dare to say a word to you if I’m around.” 

Evie was confused. Since they had arrived in Auradon, Audrey had been nothing but mean to her. She said she wasn’t royalty, she was a wannabe princess, and that she should feel honored that Chad wanted to date her. She didn’t understand the sudden change in heart. 

“Evie, I know that I’ve been a bitch to you.” Audrey told her, and the blue haired girl noticed Ben reach across the table to hold her hand. She looked at Audrey, wondering if this was all some kind of joke, but she actually seemed genuine. “To be honest, I was jealous. For my whole life, I’ve been the prettiest girl in school. People have always fallen all over me and loved my outfits and been talking about me, but from the minute you got out of that limo, everything was about you. I’m sorry for the things I’ve said. If I hadn’t of been so mean, maybe we could have been friends. It seems like we have a lot in common, and based on what Doug and Lonnie have said, you seem really cool.” 

She couldn’t believe that she was hearing those words come out of the princess’s mouth. She didn’t even know how to respond. 

“If you’ll give me a chance, I would really like to get to know you.” Audrey finished, then looked at her tray in embarrassment. 

Evie nodded. “Okay.”

“Really?”

She gave her a small smile. “Really.” Audrey returned the smile. Evie felt Mal’s hand reach over to grab hers, and Evie squeezed it, hoping that maybe the day wouldn’t be so bad. 

“What’s 7th period?” Carlos wondered. Since he was across the table, he wasn’t able to see their schedules. 

“We all have Chemistry.” Mal informed him. 

“So, is everyone okay with their new schedules?” Ben questioned. 

Mal looked like she was going to complain, but Evie squeezed her hand a little harder, hoping she was getting the message. She would be okay for one period on her own, and she believed that Audrey really would keep her word. 

“Yeah, we’re good.” Mal answered. 

“Thank you, Ben.” Evie added. 

“It’s the least I can do.” 

Now that they felt a little better about the day, everyone’s attention turned back to eating breakfast. Evie took slow, careful bites of her pineapples, trying not to eat too quickly or think about it too much. 

Conversation went on around her and she tried to focus on that, but it was hard when she it felt like she could feel each piece of pineapple sliding down her throat and settling into her stomach. She nearly choked on her fourth piece and had to stop to take a drink of water. 

Mal must have realized what was happening because she put a hand on her thigh and squeezed, drawing her attention there instead of on her food. She managed to clear her throat without coughing, then just sighed in exhaustion. 

Luck was on her side because that was when the bell rang, signaling that breakfast was over. Everyone rose to throw their food away. Evie took her time standing and grabbing her bag. Mal stood next to her, waiting for her to finish. 

“You okay?”

“Mmhmm.” Evie bit her lip. She didn’t feel like she was going to throw up, but she just felt uncomfortable. 

“I’m pretty excited that we’ll get to spend almost our whole day together now.” 

Evie cracked a smile. “You’re not gonna get sick of me?”

“Never.” Mal said, then pulled her towards her and kissed her. Surprisingly, she let her lips linger and Evie completely melted into her, feeling calm for the first time all day. When they separated, Evie noticed the large crowd of people who were supposed to be going to class watching them. 

“You did that on purpose.” Evie realized. 

Mal smirked. “No one is going to bother you now.” 

Honestly, if it worked, Evie wasn’t opposed to Mal’s tactics. They threw their food away and then linked hands, following Jay and Carlos to English class. 

When they walked in the door, it was an entire different atmosphere compared to last Thursday. People glanced at them, but there was no anger in their expressions. Evie followed Mal to their usual seats, then leaned over to whisper to her. 

“Everyone seems different.”

Mal shrugged. “Maybe they realized they were assholes last week.” 

Class started quickly after and Evie actually paid attention. They had missed a lot in the past week, and she scrambled to write everything down. She would definitely have to help Jay later, and possibly even Mal. 

The bell rang when class ended and she jumped. “Shit.” She mumbled. 

Mal kissed the top of her head sympathetically, then stood up. Evie followed, then the boys. They went into the hallway together. 

“We’re going to study hall, you’re going to art.” Carlos reminded his friends. 

Evie pouted. “It was so nice having study hall 7th period so I could do all my homework. Now the only work I have is English.” 

“Oh no, the Princess doesn’t have enough homework.” Jay teased. “C’mon, let’s go. We’ll meet you in math, Mal.” 

Mal stepped closer to Jay. Though he was much taller than her, she still stared up at him intimidatingly. “If anything happens to her while I’m gone…”

“Mal!” Evie said, pushing her away from Jay. “You know, I’m not completely useless. I don’t need someone to watch over me and hold my hand every second of the day.” 

Mal’s face softened. “I know that, baby. But the thought of anything happening to you makes me feel sick. I need to know that someone is looking out for you.” 

“I don’t want people to treat me different.” Evie nearly whispered. “Everyone knows. I don’t want them to think I’m fragile or that I can’t handle myself.” 

Mal pulled her into her arms. “I’m sorry. Like I tell you all the time, you are strong. I know you can take care of yourself.” She kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry I made you feel like you can’t.” 

Evie sighed and relaxed into the hug. She felt herself starting to slip into that uncomfortable place where she didn’t want to leave Mal. She leaned back, gave her a quick kiss, then looked to the boys. “Ready?”

“Let’s go.” Carlos agreed. Evie moved to walk next to him, leaving Mal to walk to art class alone. “How are you feeling so far?”

“Uncomfortable.” Evie admitted. “Breakfast was hard, everyone is staring, and my stomach feels bubbly.” 

“Are you anxious? Maybe that’s what the bubbly feeling is.” 

Evie nodded. “Yeah, I guess it could be.” They arrived at study hall quickly and found a table together. “Wanna get our English homework done with?”

“Yep.” Carlos started to pull his book out. 

Jay groaned. “Ugh, I forgot how big of nerds you two are. You’re actually going to make me work, aren’t you?”

“Yeah.” They said in perfect unison. 

Evie gave him a pointed look. “What happened in English class today?”

Jay looked for a second like he was going to make something up, but then he thought better of it. He sighed in defeat and pulled his book out of his backpack. 

Evie actually had a lot of fun with the boys. They finished their homework with some time to spare, so they started an intense tic-tac-toe competition. When the bell rang, she was laughing and smiling. Her first thought was that it was time to see Mal and she stood quickly, shoving her stuff into her bag.

It didn’t even occur to her that last period would have been the time she would normally be in history class with Chad until she passed the classroom. She felt the nervousness return when she remembered how terribly he had treated her last week, and she started to shake when they went past the bathroom she had blown up in. 

“I’ll be right back.” She told the boys, separating from them and walking into the bathroom. She opened the door slowly, seeing that there was a new mirror in place above the sink. Everything looked back to normal, almost like it had never happened. 

One of the stall doors opened and she saw that the person walking out was Fairy Godmother’s daughter, Jane. 

“Oh!” Jane’s eyes got wide as she looked at her nervously. “Hi, Evie.” 

“Hi.” Evie said quietly. The girl always seemed so afraid and she didn’t want to startle her. “How are you?”

“I’m good. How are you?” her voice was high pitched and squeaky. 

“I’m okay, thank you.” Evie’s eyes drifted back to the mirror again. 

“Prince Ben ordered a new one.” Jane blurted out, then gasped as if she didn’t mean to say it. Evie turned to look at her again, wondering how she knew. “I overheard my mother talking about it. I’m sorry.”

“It’s okay.” Evie swallowed harshly. “Um, thank you, by the way.”

“What do you mean?”

“For sticking up for me. Your mom told me that after what happened, you went to her and explained the situation. You believed me and you did something about it, and that means a lot to me, so thank you.” Evie smiled at her. “If there’s anything I can do to return the favor, let me know, okay?”

“Well actually, there’s one thing.” Jane piped up. “I don’t know if you know this, but Lonnie is my best friend. She showed me all the outfits you made and they are gorgeous. I’ll pay you, of course, but do you think you could make something for me?” 

Evie nodded. “Yeah, I would really like that. And don’t worry about paying me; if you bring the materials, I’ll do it for you as a favor.” 

“Really?”

“Yep.” Evie smiled, seeing that the girl was relaxing a little more. “Why don’t you come to my dorm after school today and I’ll do some measurements?”

“Yeah, okay.” Jane’s face lit up in a smile and Evie couldn’t help but think about how pretty she is. “Thank you!” 

The door opened and Mal busted in, scanning the room with a determined look on her face. As soon as her eyes landed on Evie, she was moving forward. 

“What happened? Are you okay?” she saw Jane and stepped in front of Evie, effectively blocking the other girl’s view of her. “What are you doing here?”

“Uh, I’m just using the toilet!” Jane said, almost cowering under the purple haired girl’s glare. 

“M, relax.” Evie pushed her out of the way. “See you later, Jane!” she grabbed her girlfriend’s arm and yanked her out of the bathroom. She saw the boys were still waiting across the hall and they seemed just as worried. “Wow, who knew that you two are such snitches?” 

Jay rolled his eyes. “Back off, Princess. It’s not like you gave any explanation before you just ran into the bathroom.”

“I didn’t know I had to give an explanation. It’s a bathroom!” 

“Yeah, that stopped being just a bathroom after last week, or do you not remember pulling glass out of your own hand?” 

“So you decided to tell on me like you didn’t know Mal would overreact and freak out?” 

“She asked where you were and I told her.” 

“Are you really going to argue about this?” Carlos interrupted. 

“It’s annoying that I can’t even pee without you guys hovering!” Evie huffed. 

Mal looked at her, raising an eyebrow. “So did you go in there to pee?” 

“Mmhmm.” Evie answered, though it sounded fake even to her own ears. The other three rolled their eyes at her obvious lie. 

“You’re losing your touch. Normally you’re a better liar than that.” Jay commented. 

“Why did you go in there, Evie?” Mal wondered. 

“None of your business.” She started to walk in the direction of their next class. Mr. Reynolds was already going to be pissed that they had their schedules moved around; she didn’t want to add being late to the list. 

“You _are_ my business.” Mal argued. “Either you went in there because you felt sick, or because you wanted to check the mirror. Which one?” 

“Can you just drop it?” 

“Nope.” She walked quicker to catch up. “And why were you talking to Jane?” 

“She’s weird.” Jay agreed. 

Evie whipped around to face them. “So are we!” she shouted. “If you must know, I was checking to see if there was a new mirror. To answer your question, Jay, no, I didn’t forget that I put my hand through it last week. And not that it’s any of your goddamn business, but I was talking to Jane because I was thanking her for standing up for me to Fairy Godmother after Chad tried to tell everyone I asked him to sleep with me. Are you fucking happy now?” she stormed off, going into math class and sitting in her usual seat. 

She felt a little bad for yelling at them, but she was so sick of everyone treating her like she would break at any moment. She knew that she had been a mess since they came to Auradon, but she wanted to be better and there was no way she could do that with her friends hovering constantly. 

“Evie.” She heard Mal whisper. She saw that Mal had taken Carlos’s usual seat, and that the boys were sitting a couple rows over in the only other vacant seats. “E…”

Evie just angled her body away from her. Mr. Reynolds came in and as soon as he saw the four VKs, his face heated up, but he didn’t speak. 

“Pop quiz.” He announced, digging around in his drawer until he found whatever he was looking for. He started passing out papers to each student, then set a timer. 

Evie stared down at hers and realized she had no idea how to do the problems. She used whatever knowledge she could to try and somewhat figure it out, but she knew that it wasn’t going to be good. When the timer rang, she felt defeated. 

“Pass them to the person in front of you.” Mr. Reynolds said, then collected the papers. He looked at the one on top and started to laugh. “Just as I thought. You know, you have to actually come to class in order to understand the material. I can already tell that a few of you failed.” 

Evie felt her cheeks heat up in embarrassment. She made a mental note that she couldn’t skip class anymore. She had missed too much information, and now she was going to be lost. 

The rest of class passed by slowly. The new concept built onto the one learned last week, and since she wasn’t there, Evie had no idea how to do anything. She felt herself growing more and more frustrated as she tried her best to understand. 

“Who knows the answer?” Mr. Reynolds questioned, turning towards the class. His eyes scanned over them and Evie looked at her desk, hoping he wouldn’t call on her. “Evie?” 

She had tried to solve the problem on her paper, but she just didn’t know which steps to take. “I don’t know.” 

He smirked. “Perfect example. See what happens when you don’t come to class? You’ll end up like Evie here, who probably didn’t even attempt to solve it because she has no clue where to start.” 

“Why don’t you back the fuck off?” 

Evie groaned as Mal spoke, wanting nothing more than to hide. 

“Excuse me?” Mr. Reynolds’ face got red again as he studied Mal. 

“I thought teachers were supposed to encourage their students, not try and embarrass them and call them out in front of everyone.” 

“Teachers are also supposed to talk to their students about attending class every day instead of supporting the fact that administration lets them get away with anything they want.” 

Mal laughed. “You’re hilarious.” 

“What’s hilarious is the fact that our future king thought it was a good idea to bring over such disrespectful, appalling children!” 

“Mal, stop.” Evie whispered, hoping that her girlfriend wouldn’t keep digging herself into a bigger hole. 

But Mal had never been able to walk away from a fight. “Based on recent events, it doesn’t seem like we’re the disrespectful ones. Maybe you should teach a special lesson about that to your students born in Auradon.” 

“Maybe I should give detention to the four of you for the rest of the week.” Mr. Reynolds challenged. 

Mal smiled. “Awww, Mr. Reynolds, did you want to have some bonding time with us? I agree that that sounds like a _great_ idea.” 

The bell rang, interrupting the argument. The entire class jumped up, ready to leave the awkward atmosphere. 

“I expect to see you all here every day after school for the rest of the week.” 

Mal lifted up her bag and headed towards the door. “Can’t, I’ve got therapy. Have fun though!” she led the way out. 

Evie followed, feeling like she wanted to cry. As soon as they were out of the room, Jay started to laugh. He and Mal joked around about Mr. Reynolds, reenacting his expressions. 

She felt a hand slip into hers and looked over, seeing that it was Carlos. He smiled at her sadly, pulling her forward and giving her a quick hug. 

Mal and Jay finally stopped laughing and turned towards the other two. As soon as their eyes landed on Evie, they instantly froze. She just shook her head and started walking towards Goodness class. 

“What’s wrong?” Mal asked, walking faster to catch up with her. Evie ignored her. If she spoke, she was going to cry and she really didn’t want to cry. “Evie.” As soon as they got to the classroom, Mal grabbed Evie’s arm to stop her from going in. “Damn it, Evie, just talk to me!” 

Carlos and Jay moved past them, obviously not wanting to be a part of that conversation. Evie looked at Mal and the tears started to fill her eyes. 

“You embarrassed me.” She admitted. Mal’s expression instantly changed to guilty as tears spilled down Evie’s cheeks. “You ran in the bathroom and scared Jane. She already acts so nervous around us and she was actually talking to me and smiling and you scared her. I don’t know her very well and I know that shouldn’t matter to me, but it does. I know how it feels to be uncomfortable and worried, and right when she calmed down, you busted in and yelled at her.” She sniffled, trying to wipe away the tears, but more replaced them. “Then you yelled at me in front of the boys and treated me like a child again, even after our conversation about it this morning.” She tried to take a deep breath to calm herself down, but her voice was still shaking. “You should have never talked to Mr. Reynolds the way you did.” 

“I can see your point with the rest of it, but I’m not apologizing for that.” Mal told her stubbornly, crossing her arms over her chest. “He intentionally called you out to embarrass you and that’s not okay with me.” 

“All you did was bring more attention to the fact that I didn’t know what to do!” Evie said. “Mr. Reynolds already didn’t like us, and now he has an even bigger reason.”

“I don’t care. I don’t like his attitude.” 

“Even if you wanted to say something, you should have stopped when I told you to! Now Jay, Carlos, and I have to go to detention today!” 

“I’m sorry that you felt embarrassed, Evie. You know it would never be my intention to hurt your feelings or make you feel bad. When the boys told me you were in the bathroom and they seemed worried, I didn’t know how to react. We didn’t have 2nd period together, so I didn’t know where your head was at and I thought they were worried because something had happened. I didn’t expect to see Jane there and I didn’t mean to yell at her, I just wanted to make sure you were okay. I’m sorry for questioning you about why you were in the bathroom. I should have just let you drop the conversation, but I kept pushing and I’m an idiot.” Mal looked at her. “But I’m not sorry for standing up for you. I don’t care if he’s a teacher or not, no one will talk down to you or try to make you feel stupid when I’m there.” 

“I could have handled it myself.” 

“You would have sat there and taken it, and you don’t deserve that.”

“It’s my decision to make!” 

“We are a _team_ , Evie. You and me against everything else, and I’m sorry, but there’s no way I could stand back and let him say that you were a prime example of why people should come to class because you didn’t even know the first step to solving the problem.” Mal brushed a piece of hair back behind her ear. “You don’t deserve to be treated like that. I know you think I was being disrespectful, and I was, but he deserved it. I can’t promise that next time someone is rude to you I won’t say anything, but I will try to stop myself before I take it too far, okay?” 

Evie was still upset, but she didn’t want to fight. She stepped forward and hugged Mal, resting her head on her shoulder. She knew she was overreacting a little, so maybe it was best to just let it drop. Mal’s fingers immediately went to her hair and they stood there in silence. 

“Ladies, no loitering in the hallway!” Fairy Godmother practically sang as she came up behind them. “Let’s get into the classroom!” 

Evie whimpered. “I wanna go to our room.”

Mal held her tighter. “E…”

“Please, M. I can’t do it.” 

“You’re strong, remember? You’ve got this.” Mal leaned back and kissed her forehead. 

“Girls, is something going on that I need to know about?” FG wondered. 

“Nope.” Mal answered. She grabbed Evie’s hand and pulled her into the room. They took their usual seats and Evie still felt like crying. She was just so mentally exhausted and she didn’t want to deal with this anymore. 

The boys turned to look at her in question and Evie’s eyes burned even more. She took some deep breaths to try and calm herself down, but it wasn’t working. She could feel her heartbeat quickening with every breath. 

“Mal.” She whimpered again, turning to look at her girlfriend in desperation.

“Put your head down.” She whispered, putting her hand on the back of Evie’s head and guiding it down to rest on the table. “Now close your eyes and take some big breaths. You’re okay, baby. Just calm down.” 

“I’m sorry.”

“Shhh, no apologies. Just breathe.” 

“I want to leave. She’s going to know something is wrong and she’ll tell Dr. Bren again. Please, M, I want to go to our room.” Evie tried to sit up, but Mal’s hand held her in place. 

“Stop. None of that matters if you don’t start breathing, Princess.” Evie tried her best, but she still couldn’t catch her breath. Then, all of a sudden, she couldn’t breathe at all. Her eyes got wide as she shot up in her seat and stared at Mal.

\-----

It had been a while since Evie had a panic attack this bad. Mal was doing her best to try and calm her down, but nothing was working. When she finally sat up and stared into her eyes, Mal could tell she wasn’t sucking in any air. 

The boys and Fairy Godmother were all watching in concern, and Evie’s eyes were big as she stared at Mal and struggled.

Mal’s biggest rule was to not show any weaknesses. But as she watched Evie’s face start to get slightly red from the lack of air, she knew she had to break her own rule. 

Mal stood, moving in front of Evie quickly. She slid her hands under her thighs and hoisted her up so she was holding her, then turned so she could set her on top of the table. They were closer to eye level now and Mal leaned in close. 

“Close your eyes and listen to my voice. Take a big breath.” She encouraged. Evie’s eyes drifted shut, but she was obviously still struggling, a little noise escaping her lips. “Come on, E.” she rubbed her back, hoping to snap her out of it. 

Evie still wasn’t moving, her eyes flying open again as she stared at Mal, her whole body shaking. 

Mal put both hands on Evie’s thighs and dug her nails into the tender flesh as hard as she could. Evie gasped in pain, finally pulling some air into her lungs. 

“Now keep breathing. Listen to my heart.” Mal guided her head to rest on her chest. “Good, baby. Nice and slow.” 

Evie was struggling, but she was at least breathing now. Mal kept Evie close and had her eyes glued to her; she didn’t even want to see Fairy Godmother’s reaction to all of this. She held her until her breathing evened out and when she glanced down, she saw that Evie was asleep. 

“Is she okay?” Fairy Godmother questioned, breaking the silence. 

“She’s fine.” Mal answered. 

“After what I just saw, I have a hard time believing that.” Fairy Godmother stepped down from her platform. She grabbed a chair and pulled it to right between the two tables the VKs shared. “It is my job to help all of you. I want you to be safe and comfortable, and for you to learn and to adjust to life in Auradon. You have been here for three weeks now, and it is becoming very clear that you all are still having a hard time.”

“What do you want from us?” Jay asked. “We can’t just flip a switch and suddenly adapt to our new life here.” 

“I want you to talk to me when something is happening.” She said softly. “I want you to trust that I will help.”

Carlos scoffed. “Yeah, the word ‘trust’ isn’t really in our vocabulary.” 

“What happened that caused Evie to have a panic attack?”

Her question was bold, and Mal was honestly surprised she had gotten up the courage to ask it. She and the boys stayed silent. 

“I want to explain this to you in the best way that I can.” Fairy Godmother began. “The four of you are doing well in your classes, well, you were before you starting missing class. The issues since you’ve arrived in Auradon have been minimal, and I have received very few complaints about you all. But every time I look at you, I can see how much you are struggling. At first, I thought it was just being in a new place, and I still do think that’s part of the problem. But the more I get to know you, the more I see that you are all having a hard time because of how much Evie is falling apart.”

As soon as the words were out of her mouth, the VKs were on the defensive. The boys stood, and Mal held Evie closer. They stared at FG in anger. 

“She is _not_ falling apart.” Mal argued. 

“Maybe that was a poor choice of words, but do you deny that she is struggling?” 

Mal glared. “You have no idea what we’ve been through.” 

“No, I don’t. I wish that you would feel comfortable to open up to someone here so we could help you work through it. You all clearly had a traumatic past, and until you learn to work through it, you are going to be stuck in the place that you are right now. I just hope that you start to consider speaking to someone, whether it be Dr. Bren or myself, so that you can move forward.” Fairy Godmother stood. “I’ll give you the rest of class to prepare yourselves for the rest of the day. If you need my help, you know where my office is.” She grabbed her bag and left the room. 

Now that they were alone, the boys sat. Mal shifted Evie, moving so she could sit down and hold her on her lap instead. They were all silent for a few moments. 

“Maybe there is some truth to what FG said.” Carlos said. 

“You think Evie is falling apart?” Mal snapped. 

“I know you don’t want to hear that, but yeah.” Carlos sighed. “We know what Evie has been through, and we know that she has a pretty big reason to be on edge. But we’re never going to accomplish anything if she can’t start working through things.” 

“We just exposed a weakness.” Jay picked up from there. “FG spoke to us nicely and didn’t judge anyone. Maybe she is willing to help.” 

“I don’t care. We’re not telling these people our business.”

“What’s more important? Keeping our past a secret, or helping to make a better future? Isn’t that what we’re here for?” Carlos demanded. “This has got to stop. Evie needs help, Mal. What happened with Chad is going to bring a lot of shit up and it’s just going to keep getting worse.” 

“Oh, so you’re going to go to therapy and tell Dr. Bren about your mom then?” Mal spat, then looked at Jay. “You’re going to talk about your dad?” 

“I don’t know, but…”

“No. Evie’s past is more fucked up than any of ours, and we can’t possibly understand how hard that would be for her to admit. Beyond that, think about what we’re trying to accomplish. If they hear what she’s been through, do you really think we’re going to be able to carry out our plan? There is absolutely no fucking way.” 

“I don’t know what the right answer is here, but we need to do something because we can’t keep living like this.” Jay answered. “I’m sick of watching her tear herself apart. Evie deserves to have a better life, and if we have to talk to get it for her, then we’ll talk.”

“Agreed.” Carlos said. “We don’t have to tell everything, but we at least need to try a little bit.” 

Mal looked down at Evie. She looked conflicted even in her sleep and it broke her heart. Did the boys have some good points? Should she start encouraging her to talk more to Dr. Bren? 

Evie whimpered and clung to Mal a little tighter and that’s when she made her choice. 

It was time to help Evie heal.


	15. Baby Steps

_If there was one thing in the world Mal couldn’t stand, it was living in her mother’s shadow. She had been doomed since the moment she was born; she even carried the exact same name as the woman._

_Maleficent’s one goal was for Mal to be as evil as her. From the beginning of her life, she did whatever she could to break her._

_Mal had grown up with very little human contact. She wasn’t allowed around people her own age, and her mother never hugged or cuddled her the way she saw the poor kids on the street being treated by their moms. The one time she tried to give Maleficent a hug, she had been slapped across the face and sent to her room without dinner._

_When her mother would force her into doing evil things, Mal always felt something nagging her in the back of her brain. She did her best to push it away, telling herself that she is evil and she can do anything her mom can do._

_After Mal formed her little “gang”, Maleficent started to get suspicious. Mal wasn’t allowed to have friends, so she knew she couldn’t let her mother know that she kept Evie, Jay, and Carlos around because she actually liked them._

_“Tell me, Mal. What do they have to offer you?”_

_“Jay is strong.” Mal told her. “He steals quicker than I’ve ever seen, and he never gets caught. Carlos is smart, he can find flaws in any plan right away.”_

_“And the girl?”_

_“She’s the perfect person to throw into any situation. People see her as a pretty face, so they don’t even realize how deadly she is.”_

_Maleficent had just nodded, but didn’t give her opinion. From then on, every time Mal and her crew were carrying out a plot, she felt as if her mother was watching._

_At 14, Mal walked into the castle just to be thrown to the ground by Maleficent. Her eyes were glowing in rage and she stepped on Mal’s chest, keeping her pinned to the floor._

_“Do you think I am a fool, girl?” she shouted._

_Mal had gotten used to her rage and knew that when she got upset like this, it was best to just say whatever she wanted to hear._

_“No, Mother.”_

_“What do we say about love?”_

_“Love is weakness.” Mal recited._

_“Then tell me what I heard isn’t true.” Maleficent kicked her ribs, then stepped back._

_Mal knew that was her cue to stand. “I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”_

_“Don’t lie to me!” Maleficent hit her again. “I’ve been hearing rumors about your little blue haired girl. People say she’ll drop to her knees for anyone who walks by.” Mal dug her nails into her hands, fighting the urge to argue back. She knew it wouldn’t end well. “Does she get on her knees for you too, Mal? Are you jeopardizing your reputation, MY reputation, for Grimhilde’s little whore?”_

_“No, Mother.”_

_Maleficent’s eyes glowed even brighter. “My associates have told me they’ve seen you kissing her in the market, even marking up her neck. Do you accuse me of making this up?”_

_“No, Mother.”_

_“Have you slept with the girl?”_

_“Yes.” Mal answered, knowing that her mother already knew this. She still couldn’t figure out her angle here._

_“Do you love her?”_

_“No.” Mal felt a pang in her chest as she lied, but she couldn’t show weakness. She couldn’t let her mother know how much Evie means to her or she was as good as dead._

_“Then tell me, Mal. Why did I get word that you and your boys killed one of the men seen touching your little bitch?”_

_Mal stood taller as her own eyes started to light up. “Because she’s part of my crew. No one on this Isle messes with a person who is loyal to me.”_

_Maleficent stared at her, willing her to back down, but Mal stood her ground. She stared right back at her mother, refusing to give in._

_“Love is weakness, Mal.”_

_“Yes, Mother.”_

_“Do not fall victim to what became the downfall of so many. Love will drag you down. Protect your crew because you own them, not because of any feelings.”_

_“Yes, Mother.” Mal said, knowing that no matter what it took or who she had to stand up to, she would always protect her crew._

\-----

Mal charged into Dr. Bren’s office with a purpose. She walked past the sign in sheet (she refused to ever sign it, so it’s not like this was anything new) and busted into the office. 

“Mal.” Dr. Bren greeted dryly, clearly not affected by her antics anymore. Normally, that would have frustrated Mal, but not today. She had more important business to take care of.

“You’re always telling me to talk, so let’s talk.” She said, crossing her arms over her chest. 

“Okay.” Dr. Bren stood from her desk. “Would you like to take a seat?” Mal went over and sat on the chair that faced the door. “You know, it’s funny that all four of you always choose to sit in that chair.”

“Best vantage points. Clear view of the door so you can see if someone enters, and not too far so that if something happens, you can get away quickly.” Mal explained. 

Dr. Bren nodded. “That makes sense.” She sat across from Mal. “What would you like to talk about today?”

Mal frowned. “Aren’t you supposed to tell me what to talk about?” 

“It seems like there’s something on your mind. Do you want to talk about it, or would you rather me ask you some questions?” 

“You kept asking me how I fit into my mother being the ruler of the Isle.” Mal reminded her. “When the Isle of the Lost was first created and villains were shipped there, Maleficent was the most powerful of all. I guess it took a little while for the barrier to go into effect completely, because when they first arrived, she still had some magic. Not enough to break the barrier or escape, but enough to assert dominance over everyone else. 

“There were five major villains on the Isle- Maleficent, Evil Queen, Jafar, Cruella, and Ursula. At first, they all had their own territories, but then Ursula betrayed my mother. Cruella is a nutcase, Evil Queen cared more about her looks than anything else, and Jafar just wanted the best of everything, so they teamed up with Maleficent and gave her their territories in exchange for protection, putting her in charge of majority of the Isle. Then, they started having children. No one on the Isle was raised by two parents. Most people don’t even know their other parent, and it’s not a question that we are allowed to ask.”

“You told me before that having a villain for a parent is exactly the way it sounds. Can you explain that a little more?” 

“I don’t know what there is to explain. Just because Maleficent and I share DNA it doesn’t mean she was any easier on me than everyone else. Honestly, it made things harder.” 

“How so?” 

“When someone takes power, they usually do it with an army, right?” Mal looked at her icily. “Who do you think she made into the perfect little solider?” 

Dr. Bren nodded in understanding. “Can you tell me a little bit about your childhood? How were you raised?” 

“To believe that the most important thing in this world is power. If you don’t have power, then you have nothing. Maleficent took what she wanted and kept it because of her power. She caused fear in every single person on the Isle so that she could stay in charge. From the time I was little, she raised me to be just like her. I wasn’t allowed to play with other kids, and she barely let me go to school. Everything was about following in her footsteps and being evil.” 

“How did you meet the others if you weren’t allowed to play with other kids?” Dr. Bren wondered. 

“Maleficent met with Evil Queen, Jafar, and Cruella every now and then to reassert power and give them smaller tasks that she didn’t feel like dealing with. When they met, they all brought their children. I met Evie for the first time when we were 6, and then we met the boys not too long after.” 

“Were they raised to fulfil their parents’ agenda too?”

Mal scoffed. “You have no idea. But that’s their story to tell, and I don’t want to get into that.” 

“That is perfectly understandable.” Dr. Bren smiled at her. “I respect the way you said that. We hit a boundary, and that’s okay, Mal. You don’t have to tell me everything, just what you are comfortable with for now, and then we’ll work on that until you’re ready to tell me more. This isn’t about digging into your past. It’s about understanding who you are so I know how to make it easier for you to cope.” 

“Why is everyone so interested in what happened on the Isle?” Mal questioned. 

“Because we have very little information. Personally, I find it horrible that King Adam didn’t keep tabs on what was going on with people he sentenced to the Isle, especially knowing that there were innocent children being raised there. But even if he does have some information, he never shared it with the public. Most people just know the Isle as the place where bad people were sent, but as you know, that’s far from the truth.” 

Mal nodded in understanding. “You keep saying you want to help. How is talking going to help?” 

“If we can find the root of the issue, we can treat it. Think of it like this. If you wake up from nightmares every single night and you don’t understand it, it’s helpful to talk about what leads to the nightmares. Maybe the solution is as easy as buying a nightlight.” 

“Do you think there is a solution to all of our problems?” 

“No.” Dr. Bren admitted. “But some problems heal over time. I want you to know that what we discuss will not leave this room unless it is absolutely crucial information that I have to share with someone else. Fairy Godmother spoke to me about Evie’s discomfort with us sharing information, and this was the agreement we came to in order to fix that.” 

“What would you consider crucial information?” 

“If you told me you wanted to hurt yourself, I would have to tell someone.” Dr. Bren gave her an example. 

Mal just sighed. “I just want things to be better. Our entire lives have been shitty, and I don’t want to live like that anymore.” 

Dr. Bren smiled. “You’re taking an amazing first step to breaking that cycle, Mal. You are very brave and I admire your courage. I know it’s difficult to trust someone in a new place who you don’t know very well, but I am here to help you.”

“I can’t promise you that I’ll always want to talk or that I’ll answer all your questions, but I want to try.” 

“That’s all I can ask for.”

\-----

After therapy, Mal felt exhausted. She didn’t realize how hard spilling some of her past would be until she walked out of Dr. Bren’s office and felt like she could sleep for a week. She walked quickly across the school until she reached their dorm. 

Today was the first day the boys would have to sleep in their room, but she hoped they at least had the sense to stay with Evie until she got back. After what happened in Goodness class, Evie had been quiet and a little out of it the rest of the day. She spoke when spoken to and did her classwork, but she wasn’t her usual self. 

When she walked into their room, she was happy to see Jay sitting on the bed. She looked around and saw Carlos and Evie passed out on the other bed. 

“Hey.” Mal greeted, dropping her bag on the floor and sliding out of her shoes. 

“How was therapy?” Jay wondered. 

“I actually told her some stuff.” Mal shrugged. “I don’t know, it was weird.”

“Do you feel better?”

“A little bit. It just feels like there’s not as much weight on my chest, you know? Maybe these people can help a little.” She sat next to him. “How was detention?” 

“Awesome, thanks for that.” Jay said dryly. He clearly didn’t appreciate that her attitude had landed them all in detention. 

“How was E?” 

“Same as before, not really talking. It was weird though, she was going through her math book and trying to learn what we missed last week. Mr. Reynolds came over and I thought I was going to have to beat his ass, but then he asked what she was doing and when she told him, he sat with her and showed her a couple problems.” 

“Really?” Mal asked in surprised. “Why?”

“I don’t know, he said something about how he was willing to help if she was willing to put in effort. When we got back here, Evie tried to show Carlos, but she could barely keep her eyes open so they took a nap instead.” 

Mal sighed. “What am I supposed to do, Jay? How do I help her?”

“Well first of all, I think you need to back off a little. Ever since we came to Auradon, you’ve been fighting all of Evie’s battles for her and it’s making her pull back into herself. On the Isle, she didn’t take shit from anyone. If you give her some space, I feel like she’ll start sticking up for herself again.”

“It’s just hard not to be there for her when I know she’s going through so much right now.”

“There’s a difference between being there for someone and coddling, and you’re coddling.” Jay stated. “Just give her a little space. No more hovering.” 

Mal nodded. Maybe Jay had a point. She promised herself to try her best, but she wasn’t sure how well that would go because Evie being uncomfortable flared up every single protective instinct in her body. 

Mal laid down on the bed, feeling strange without having Evie practically on top of her. Jay filled the space next to her after a minute and she actually scooted a little closer to him. 

“Oh wow, is the great Mal Bertha actually trying to cuddle?” Jay said with a fake gasp. 

“Shut up.” Mal mumbled. “And don’t call me that.” 

“It’s okay, Mal. I won’t tell anyone.” He wrapped an arm around her. At first, she thought about pushing him off, but he was warm and comfy so she let it go. She was asleep within minutes. 

\-----

When Mal woke up, she felt the bed dip slightly. Her eyes fluttered open and she saw Evie crawling up the bed until she was over top of her. She lowered herself carefully and looked at her. 

“Why are you all the way over here?”

“When I got back, you and Carlos were sleeping.” Mal responded. She looked around in confusion. “Where are they?”

“They went back to their room.” Evie answered. 

Mal stroked her fingers through Evie’s hair so she could hold it away from her face. “You’re so beautiful.” 

“So are you, my love.” Evie leaned down and planted a gentle kiss on her full lips. “I’m sorry for earlier.”

Mal sat up, bringing Evie with her so the girl sat in her lap. Mal wrapped her arms around her waist. 

“Why are you apologizing?”

“Because I was stressed and nervous and I took it out on you and the boys. I shouldn’t have overreacted so much when you came into the bathroom, and I shouldn’t have argued with Jay about you coming to find me. I know I’ve given you a lot of reason to be nervous lately.” 

“I’m sorry too. I shouldn’t have kept prying into your business, and I shouldn’t have taken things so far with Mr. Reynolds.” Mal kissed her cheek. “How are you feeling?”

“Still uncomfortable.” Evie admitted. “I’ve been uncomfortable ever since the party and I don’t know if it will ever go away.”

“It will.” Mal promised, kissing her temple, then her cheek, then her chin. “How do you feel about what happened in Goodness class?”

“Embarrassed.” Evie bit her lip. “I don’t know how I’m ever going to look Fairy Godmother in the eyes again.” 

“She was very understanding about the whole thing. She brought up some good points.” Mal hesitated before speaking again. This was a make it or break it kind of moment; either they had this conversation and Evie responded well, or she would be upset and they would fight about it. Mal had been struggling to get into Evie’s head lately, so she wasn’t sure which way things would lean. 

“Like what?”

“She said that until we learn to show a little trust and start to open up to people who are here to help us, we will always be stuck in the place we’re at right now.” Mal stroked Evie’s hair out of her face gently. “I think she’s right.” 

“What do you mean?” 

“All of our lives, we’ve been taught that we need to be evil and we have to do what our parents say. Now that we’re in Auradon, we’re seeing that that’s not necessarily true anymore. We are safe physically for the first time in our lives, but now that we’re not constantly running from danger, all the bullshit in our heads is starting to be a bigger issue. Today in therapy, I talked to Dr. Bren.”

“Really?” Evie seemed surprised. She brought a hand up and stroked it over Mal’s cheek. “How did that go?” 

“I didn’t tell her anything major. We talked about Maleficent and how she got her power, and I told her she raised me to be a solider for her. She asked how I met all of you, and I said through our parents, and she asked me if your parents raised you guys the same way. When I told her I didn’t want to talk about it, she said that was okay and I was allowed to have boundaries.” Mal shrugged. “I don’t know. I don’t know if it’s actually going to help, but I felt a little better after I talked to her. It’s nice not having to hide everything.” 

Evie looked down, avoiding eye contact. “I don’t want to talk to Dr. Bren.” 

“What about Fairy Godmother?” Mal suggested. Evie looked at her hesitantly. “Dr. Bren told me that from now on, whatever we say in therapy stays in therapy, unless it’s something dangerous. Fairy Godmother told her how you were uncomfortable with them talking about you when you’re not around, and they changed their rule because of that. FG seems like she cares about you, E. If you don’t like Dr. Bren, then I think she’s a good option.” 

Evie bit her lip nervously. “I don’t know how to talk to them. I don’t know what to say or what’s too much. What if I say something wrong and they find out? I don’t know if I can do it.” 

“FG will help you. She can ask the questions and you can answer in a way you think is good, okay?” Mal kissed her cheek again. “Stay calm, baby. Don’t get worked up.” 

Evie grimaced. “I just always feel like I’m so wound up and waiting to snap. I hate feeling like this.” She tried to get up, but Mal held her hips and kept her in place. 

“Hey, when you start feeling like that, talk to me.” Mal grabbed her chin gently so they could make eye contact. “We can find ways for you to wind down when you need it. Taking baths, sleeping, taking a walk, designing, making out…” Mal listed. “Whatever you need, I’ll help you, okay?” 

Evie gave her a small smile. “Okay.” She leaned in for a hug. “I think I could use a little help right now.”

“Oh really? What do you need?”

“Maybe a little of that last one.” Evie pulled back so they could make eye contact. Mal laughed at her overdramatic pout. 

“I think that can be arranged.” Mal flipped their bodies, pressing Evie’s back into the mattress and kissing her. When they separated for air, she smirked. “You know what’s great?”

“What?”

“The boys are gone.” 

Evie raised an eyebrow. “Okay…”

Mal trailed her kisses down her neck. “That means we can be as loud as we want.”


	16. Turn the Tide

The next morning, Evie’s chest felt a little lighter. Spending time with Mal always helped, and though they were up half the night, it was for a good reason this time. 

“Morning, boys.” She greeted as she sat next to Carlos at the breakfast table. 

“You look happy.” Carlos commented. 

Jay laughed. “Does it have anything to do with the hickey on your neck?” 

Evie slapped her hand over the mark Mal had left on her skin. “You can still see it? I spent forever trying to cover it up!” 

Carlos moved her hand out of the way. “Damn, she got you good.” 

Mal came over, sitting down next to Jay. She slid a cup of yogurt and a bottle of water over to Evie, who groaned. 

“No complaints, Pretty Girl. You didn’t eat at all yesterday.” 

“Oh really…” Jay began with a smirk, until Evie kicked him under the table. “Ouch! Evie, what the fuck!?” 

“Keep your comments to yourself.” 

“Did I missing something?” Mal questioned. 

Jay laughed again. “No, I think you got most of her neck.”

The purple haired girl shrugged. “Sorry. We took advantage of having our room to ourselves.” She turned to Jay with an evil smile. “Many times.” 

“Thanks for the visual.” 

“Anything for you.” She ruffled his hair. “So, how was being in a different room? Did you guys sleep okay?” 

“It was fine.” Carlos answered before Jay could say another sexual comment. “A little weird, but nothing too bad.” 

“Good morning!” they all looked over as Ben joined their table. “How are all of you?” he took a seat next to Jay. 

“We’re fine, thank you for asking.” Evie gave him a charming smile. 

“Some of us better than others.” Jay grumbled.

Audrey came over next, taking the empty seat next to her boyfriend. Conversation started to flow, and a few seconds later, Lonnie sat next to Carlos. 

Ben gasped suddenly. “What happened?” 

Evie looked around in confusion, wondering where that had come from. Then, she realized Ben’s gaze was on her. “What are you talking about?”

“Your neck is all bruised up!” he stood. “Did someone hurt you? Whoever it is, give me a name and I’ll…” 

“Honey, sit down.” Audrey said, tugging on Ben’s arm. Evie felt her entire face heat up as she realized what he meant. It hit the others at the same time- Carlos shook his head, Mal smiled proudly, and Jay started to laugh. 

“No! I want to know who is responsible for this so I can…” 

“Ben.” Audrey interrupted again. 

“Why are you not more upset about this?”

“Because I think it was Mal.” Audrey told him. 

Ben frowned. “Mal?” he looked back and forth between the two girls. “You put your hands on her?”

“That’s not all she put on her.” Jay joked. 

“Oh my God.” Audrey groaned. “Ben, it’s a hickey.” 

His face immediately flushed. “Huh?” 

“Mal gave Evie a hickey.” 

At this point, Evie’s head was buried in her arms. Carlos patted her back in support, but he was trying to hide his grin. Mal and Jay were both laughing. 

“Oh…oh, um, okay. Sorry.” He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. 

“It’s good to know that you have our backs though, Benny-boo.” Mal said. 

“Of course I do.” 

Conversation picked back up and Evie finally felt like she could look everyone in the eyes again. She sat up and saw that Mal was staring at her. Green eyes darted towards the cup of yogurt pleadingly and Evie gave in, taking a small bite. 

She tried to focus more on everyone talking than the fact that she was eating, and by the time the bell rang, she had eaten half of her yogurt. 

“Proud of you.” Mal whispered in her ear as they walked towards the trash can. They both disposed of their garbage and then Mal kissed Evie’s forehead. 

“I need to go to the bathroom.” Evie told her. 

“Do you want me to go with you?”

“If you want.” 

Mal looked at the boys. “We’re going to the bathroom. Meet you in class.”

“Don’t take too long.” Jay called, wiggling his eyebrows suggestively. 

Evie rolled her eyes. She glanced at Audrey, Lonnie, and Ben, wondering how they felt about all of Jay’s jokes today. Ben was so innocent that he probably didn’t even understand, Audrey rolled her eyes, and Lonnie laughed. 

They walked to the bathroom together and Evie stopped in front of the sink. She opened her bag and pulled out makeup. 

“I can’t believe you did this.” Evie said, meeting Mal’s eyes in the mirror as she rubbed more foundation over the hickey. 

“Sorry.” Mal’s voice was monotoned, showing that she clearly didn’t care. On the Isle, Mal had left marks as often as possible to stake a claim to her territory. Evie didn’t necessarily mind (especially while it was happening), but it was a little embarrassing. 

After she had covered the mark the best she could, they went to class. Their first two periods passed quickly, and then it was time to go to math class. 

Evie was surprised, but grateful that Mr. Reynolds had helped her during detention the day before. She hoped that he wouldn’t throw it in her face now. 

“Please keep your temper in check.” Evie said as she tugged on Mal’s hand. 

“I’ll do my best, Princess.” 

“I’m serious, Mal. Keep your mouth shut.” 

Mal nodded, obviously knowing better than to argue with her. “I’ll try.” 

They sat next to each other, the boys taking the empty seats behind them. Mr. Reynolds began class, and Evie was happy that it was all making more sense now. She had tried her best to get some more work done after detention, but she had been so tired. She knew that today after her therapy appointment, she would have to teach Jay and Mal- though Carlos didn’t say anything, she was sure he was listening when Mr. Reynolds was helping her. 

Class passed quickly. Mr. Reynolds called on her towards the end and Evie could see Mal sit up straighter out of the corner of her eye. She quickly finished the problem in her notebook, then told him the answer she had gotten. 

Mr. Reynolds actually gave a small smile. “Very nice, Evie.” He studied the rest of the classroom. “You all should take notes from her. Even after what happened in class yesterday, she worked hard during detention and accepted my help.” 

“What did she do for you in return?” one of the Auradon kids shouted, causing his friends to laugh.

Evie felt her entire face heat up. She heard the scrape of Mal’s chair against the ground as she went to stand and defend her. 

“Excuse me?” Mr. Reynolds interrupted. He stomped over to where the boy, who Evie now recognized as one of Chad’s Tourney teammates, was sitting. “Do not ever disrespect me or another person in this classroom again.” 

The boy stuttered. “S-sorry sir.” 

“I’ll see you in detention today.” Mr. Reynolds glanced over at the VKs, seeing Mal was still standing and had her fists clenched. “Can we get back to our lesson now?” 

Evie studied Mal, hoping that for once she would just sit down and shut up. She was pleasantly surprised when Mal sat and nodded towards Mr. Reynolds. 

The rest of math class went by without anything eventful happening. When the bell rang, Evie gathered her things and then went over to the teacher’s desk. 

“Mr. Reynolds?” she said quietly. 

“Yes?” he stopped his grading and glanced up at her. 

“Thank you for helping me yesterday. I know that I missed a lot of class, but I’m going to try my best not to do that anymore. I really appreciate your help.” 

He nodded. “As long as you put in the work, I’m here to help you.” 

“Thank you.” 

“And thanks for standing up for her.” Mal said, coming up behind Evie. “I know I’ve been rude to you, but thanks.” 

Mr. Reynolds looked at the two of them, then just nodded his head. “Evie, you have therapy today, correct?” 

“Yes.” 

“Mal, I’ll still see you in detention?”

“Yes.” Evie answered for her, then grabbed her hand. “Thank you, Mr. Reynolds.” She pulled Mal out of the room and they met up with the boys in the hallway. 

“Maybe Mr. Reynolds isn’t a complete asshole.” Jay commented.

Carlos nodded. “You guys should go a little easier on him.” 

“I’m going to miss seeing how red his face gets.” Jay said with a dramatic sigh, making Evie laugh. 

She sobered up quickly, remembering how Goodness class had gone yesterday. So far, it had been a good day, but she wasn’t confident that that would continue. It would be a miracle if Fairy Godmother didn’t make a comment about what had happened the day before. 

They found their usual seats and before Evie could even move, Mal reached out and grabbed her hand. She kissed the back of it, then each one of her knuckles, and then her wrist. 

“You’re so calm today.” Mal told her as she stroked her thumb in circles over her hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Better.” Evie said with a nod. “I’m nervous about what FG will say though.” 

“It’s going to be okay.” 

“How do you know?”

Mal shrugged. “I just do. Am I ever wrong?” Jay and Carlos busted out laughing and she glared over at them. “What’s so funny?”

“Are you ever wrong?” Jay repeated. “Remember the time you made us charge into the drop off and we nearly had our asses handed to us by Uma’s crew, all because you wanted some more sketching paper?” 

“Or when you said that we could steal chemicals from Curl Up and Dye and Lady Tremaine beat us with a broom?” Carlos laughed. 

“Or when you decided we all should wear matching t-shirts.” Evie shuddered. “I still have nightmares about Carlos in that tight pink shirt.” 

Carlos gasped. “Excuse me?” 

Mal rolled her eyes. “You’re all assholes.” She grabbed Evie’s chin gently. “Except you. You’re perfect.” She leaned in and gave her a quick kiss.

“Wow, what a surprise. You know, you’re not really supposed to play favorites with your crew.” Jay told her. 

“Yeah, I think I broke that rule a long time ago.” She turned Evie’s face towards Jay. “Look at this beautiful face and tell me you wouldn’t do the same.” 

Jay shrugged. “She’s alright.” Evie pouted, making Mal laugh and run her thumb over Evie’s bottom lip until she smiled again. “Okay, you’re right. She’s fucking gorgeous.” 

They heard the door open and Fairy Godmother walked into the room. Their conversation ended quickly as all their smiles faded and they stared towards where the headmistress was standing. 

“Good morning, children.” She greeted. “How are you all today?” 

“Fine.” Mal responded. 

Fairy Godmother must have noticed how tense they all were. She smiled at them. “I’m glad that you’re all in class today. I have a wonderful lesson prepared for you about how to behave during a dinner party.” 

Just like that, she glossed over everything that had happened yesterday. Evie was in absolute shock. She was waiting for Dr. Bren to appear, or for FG to send her off to the health center to talk about her problems. Instead, she pulled out examples of outfits to wear during fine dining and talked as if she hadn’t seen Evie have a panic attack the day before. 

Evie actually enjoyed the lesson that day and she was surprised when the bell rang. As she packed her things up, she remembered that lunch was next and felt some of the familiar dread creep into her body. 

“Come on, Pretty Girl.” Mal said, holding her hand out for Evie to grab. Evie took it without hesitation and they headed towards the cafeteria. “I’m so proud of you today. You’re having such a good day.” 

Evie smiled. “Yeah, it hasn’t been too bad.” 

“I know you probably don’t want to eat lunch, but you’re trying to stay healthy, remember?” Mal led her to the lunch line. “Any preferences?”

Evie shrugged. “I don’t care.” 

Mal chose food for both of them and carried it over to the table. They sat and she divided the food up, leaving Evie with a plate of a few different fruits and vegetables. The portions were small, but it was still a lot more food than Evie had eaten in a while. 

“You don’t have to eat it all, but you should at least try each one and see what you like. I made sure there’s no broccoli.”

“Thank you, M.” Evie sighed and picked up her fork, knowing there was no going around this. She tried fresh carrots, cauliflower, asparagus, and green beans. The cauliflower was little plain, but none of it was bad. 

She moved on to the fruit next. Fruit was sweeter, and she had liked every fruit she tried so far. She saved the strawberries and pineapples for last, knowing that she liked those and could eat them if she didn’t like the other fruits. She tried the grapes and oranges that Mal put on her plate and they were good, but she didn’t like the pears. 

After she had eaten a bite of everything, and even finished off the asparagus and pineapples, she tuned into the conversation happening at the table. She looked towards Mal and saw that she was looking directly at her and had a huge smile on her face. 

“You’re amazing.” Mal told her. 

Evie smiled back as she blushed. She looked over and saw that at some point, Audrey, Lonnie, and Doug had joined them, and they were all looking at her in confusion. 

“Do you want my strawberries?” she asked Mal. 

“Are you finished with them?”

“Mmhmm.” Evie didn’t feel uncomfortable yet, but she knew she would if she kept eating. She had tried a few bites of each thing and that was the best she could do. She opened her bottle of water and took a big drink, knowing that water was good for the body and she didn’t drink enough of it. 

She felt Mal’s hand on her back. She slipped it under her shirt and gently scratched her lower back in circles. Evie felt the tension practically melt away as she sighed and let Mal work her magic. Her girlfriend always knew exactly where to touch and what to do to help her relax. 

Lunch ended not too long after, and Evie actually felt good. Normally, this was the turning point in her day, but she still had some energy left and she hoped that she could get through her last three classes without any issues. 

History class was next. The tables were arranged in long rows, and Evie sat between Carlos and Mal. She pulled her notebook out and tried her best to focus and take notes. She struggled the most with history and they had a test coming up that she was already behind on studying for since she missed class every day last week. She looked around at her friends to see what they were doing. Jay looked like he was half asleep, Carlos was scribbling notes down on his notebook, and Mal was sketching. She had drawn a familiar face and Evie leaned over to rest her head on Mal’s shoulder when she realized who it was. Mal kissed her forehead and shut her notebook without a word. 

After history, they broke off into their separate classes. Evie walked with Mal, while the boys had to go in the opposite direction. 

“How was this class yesterday?”

“Fine. No one said anything to me, if that’s what you mean.” 

Mal nodded. “Good.” They got to the outside of the door. “See you in a little bit.” 

“M’kay.” Evie leaned forward and gave Mal a quick kiss on the cheek, then walked in. She took the empty seat next to Audrey. 

“Hi.” Audrey greeted. 

“Hi.” Evie gave her a small smile in greeting. 

“How has your day been? You seem a lot happier than yesterday.” 

“It’s been good. What about you?”

Audrey looked surprised. “Me?”

“Yeah. How was your day?”

She seemed shocked that Evie had even thought to ask. “It’s been good. I haven’t seen Ben that much because he’s been so busy, so that sucks, but nothing out of the ordinary has happened.” She pulled out her sketchbook. “Did you finish your sketches that are due today?”

“Yes.” Evie pulled out her sketchbook; it wasn’t nearly as nice as Audrey’s with its worn blue cover, but Mal had made her a new one every time she filled one and it was special to her. Audrey held hers out, so they traded and looked at each other’s designs. 

“Oh wow.” Audrey said, turning the page slowly as if she would rip it if she moved too fast. “Evie, these are amazing.”

“Thank you, I like yours too.” 

“No, I’m serious. I’ve never seen anything like this before. You’re really talented.” 

Evie smiled uncomfortably. “Thanks.” 

“Miss Andrews!” Audrey called out. “You have to see these.” 

Before Evie knew it, the teacher was coming over to inspect her sketches. When she had taken Fashion Design on a different period, she had a different teacher, so this was only her second day with Miss Andrews. The woman looked at each page with little expression, and once she finished, she handed Evie’s notebook back with a big smile. 

“I think you were made to be a designer, my dear.” She told her. “How long have you been sketching?” 

“I’m not sure. I was six, maybe seven?” 

“Really?”

“My, um, my mother was very insistent on me dressing nicely. She would pick out clothes for me that I didn’t like, and she told me if I could think of something better, then she would consider it. So I started drawing my own designs and when she thought they were acceptable, she would help me get the materials for them.”

Miss Andrews nodded her head. “Do you make all of your own clothes?”

“Yes.” 

“Did you make what you’re wearing right now?” Evie nodded. “You have some real talent, Evie. I don’t know if you’ve heard, but I’m the leader of the sewing club. We work on sketches and then put together different pieces. Would you be interested in joining?”

“I’m in the club too.” Audrey chimed in. “It’s really fun.” 

Evie didn’t know what possessed her to do it, but she actually agreed. “Okay, I guess I could try it out.” 

Miss Andrews smiled. “Great. We meet on Tuesdays and Thursdays after school. Can you come to tomorrow’s meeting?” 

“Yes.” Evie decided. 

“I can’t wait to see you there. You have a lot to bring to the table.” She went to the front of the room to get class started. 

Evie was shocked by the turn of events. Someone actually thought she had some talent? She knew that her designs weren’t bad, but most of the people who liked them were kids who never knew any better. She had never had an adult actually praise her for her designs before. 

She was still smiling when she met her friends in 7th period. Mal noticed instantly and raised an eyebrow. “What has you so smiley, beautiful?” 

“Audrey asked our Fashion Design teacher, Miss Andrews, to look at my sketchbook today. She was really impressed with my designs and she asked me to join the sewing club.” 

“That’s amazing, baby!” Mal kissed her cheek. “My girl the fashion designer.” 

Evie beamed proudly. “She said that I have real talent and a lot to bring to the table.” 

“That’s because you do! You know your stuff and you can make beautiful outfits out of next to nothing. Did you say yes to joining the club?”

“Yeah, they have meetings on Tuesdays and Thursdays.” Evie gave a small shrug. “Maybe it’ll help me to have things to do during the week instead of just going back to the dorm room and sleeping.”

“I agree.” Mal just stared at her as a dopey smile forced her lips upwards. “You know, I think I fall more in love with you every single day.” 

Evie leaned her head over to rest on Mal’s shoulder. “The feeling is mutual.” 

7th period flew by without an issue. It was chemistry, so Evie understood everything without a struggle. When it was time to work with a lab partner, Evie and Mal obviously chose each other. 

“Okay, do you want to start?” Evie questioned. 

Mal laughed. “You give me a lot of credit, you know that?”

“What do you mean?”

“I didn’t understand a word he was saying.” 

Evie rolled her eyes. “I guess we’re going to have to go back to group study sessions.” 

“Probably. I was clueless today in math and history too.” 

“Mal!” Evie said. “You need to start paying attention!” 

“But you’re just so pretty and I would rather look at you.” 

Evie gave her a look. “Maybe I’ll talk to Fairy Godmother about us not being in the same classes then.” 

Mal smiled. “Yeah right, you would miss me too much.” She sighed. “Alright, try and show me what to do.” 

Evie performed their experiment with ease. Their teacher even came over to observe, and he nodded approvingly when he saw that Evie knew exactly what to do. 

“Look at my girl impressing all the teachers.” Mal whispered once he walked away. “Is there a chemistry club for you to join too?” 

“Probably.”

“Have you looked into that? Maybe you and Carlos could join.” 

Evie shook her head. “You have to be really smart to be in chemistry club and…”

“…and you’re smart as fuck.” Mal finished for her. “Don’t ever try and tell me you’re not smart enough again. I understand not wanting to do too much, or not wanting to add more to your plate on top of everything else, but you not being smart enough is not even close to being a good excuse.” 

Evie bit her lip to try and hide her smile. “You know what, Mal Bertha? You are the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” 

“And you’re the best thing that’s ever happened to me.” 

When class ended, the four of them walked to the front of the school together. Evie had her therapy appointment today, which she had been pushing to the back of her mind all day. Now that it was time, she felt the nervousness starting to creep up. 

“Do you want us to walk you there?” Jay asked. 

Evie sighed and shook her head. “I don’t want to go to the health center.” 

“We don’t really have an option, E.” Carlos told her sympathetically. 

Evie turned to Mal. “You said maybe I could talk to Fairy Godmother. Do you think I can go there now instead of therapy?” 

She knew Mal had no clue what the rules were, but the purple haired girl nodded anyway. “Doesn’t hurt to try. C’mon, I’ll walk you to her office.” She grabbed Evie’s hand and looked over her shoulder at the boys. “Meet you in detention.”

They walked through the hallways quietly. Evie felt her stomach start to bubble as she got closer and closer to Fairy Godmother’s office. Suddenly, Mal grabbed her arm and pulled her over to a secluded corner of the hall. 

Mal pushed her back against the wall and put her arms on either side of Evie’s head, holding her there. She leaned in and kissed her once, then again for a little longer this time. 

“Do you have any idea how much I love you?” Mal asked, then kissed her again. “All day you have worked so hard and you have done some amazing things, baby girl. Now you’re being so brave and going to talk to Fairy Godmother and I couldn’t be prouder of you.” She kissed her again, stealing her breath away. 

When they separated, Evie rested her forehead against Mal’s. “Thank you for always being here for me. I don’t know where I would be without having you supporting me.” 

Mal kissed the tip of her nose, then her cheek, then temple, and finally her forehead. “Take a deep breath.” Evie did as she instructed. “Let it out nice and slow, and let that nervous energy out with it. You’ve got this, E.” 

Evie nodded her head, causing Mal’s head to nod too since their foreheads were pressed together. She laughed at the weird movement. 

They moved apart and Mal reached forward, running her index finger along Evie’s lips. “Sorry, I smeared a little of your lipstick. I fixed it though.” 

Evie laughed when she noticed Mal’s lips were a shade darker than before. She wiped the layer of lipstick off, then pressed a light kiss to her lips. “There.” 

“Come on, baby.” Mal held her hand and kept leading her down the hallway.

When they got to Fairy Godmother’s office, Evie felt nervous, but she knew she had to do this. She raised her hand and knocked. 

“Come in!” 

“I have to go to detention, but as soon as I’m done, I’ll be right back here.” Mal promised. She kissed her cheek. “You’ve got this my brave, beautiful girl.” She whispered.

Evie bit her lip as she worked up the courage to open the door. She pushed it open slowly and peaked her head around the corner. “Hello, Fairy Godmother.”

“Evie! Hello dear, come in.” she smiled welcomingly. She entered the room and shut the door quietly behind her. She went over and sat in the chair across from FG. “What brings you to my office?” 

“I don’t trust Dr. Bren.” She blurted out, earning a concerned look from FG. “I just…I don’t know how to talk to her or what she wants from me. But you…I know that you want to help me. You’ve told us so many times that you’ll do what you can to help, and when we came to you about schedules and all that, you fixed it for us. I know you’ll try your best.” 

Fairy Godmother nodded. “Of course I’m here to help.” She came around to sit in the chair next to Evie’s. “What can I help you with?” 

“I’m supposed to be in therapy right now, but I can’t go. Every time I go, something is triggered inside of me and I’m a mess. I don’t want to be a mess anymore. I need to get better, for me and for Mal and for Carlos and Jay.” 

“Would you feel better talking to me?” 

“Yes.” Evie practically whispered. 

“Okay. I want to start by saying that I’m not a therapist, so I’m not going to always know the right thing to say or how to help you. There may come a time where I have to speak to Dr. Bren about how I should handle a situation with you. I know you are uncomfortable with us sharing information about you, but would it be okay if I asked you before I speak to her?” 

Evie nodded. “I guess so.” 

“Alright. Why don’t you tell me about you?” 

Evie frowned slightly. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know much about you. I know the obvious things- you are sixteen years old, your mother is the Evil Queen, your favorite color is blue, you design clothes, and you have excellent scores in chemistry. I also know some things that I’ve figured out from watching you the past few weeks- you are the most polite of your friends, but also very guarded and reserved, almost more so than Mal. You love your friends very much and you would do anything for them, and they would do the same for you. But I want to know more about you. Can you fill in some blanks for me?”

“I never knew who my father was.” Evie began, figuring that it would be best to start at the beginning. “Mother didn’t like it when I talked about him, so I never asked who he was. I would assume that he was human because as you know, my mother is a witch, and I don’t feel any kind of magic in my body. I learned chemistry because of that; if I can’t make a potion with magic, then making a potion out of different chemicals was the next best thing. It made me useful. On the Isle, to be considered powerful, you have to have some type of use. But of course, my brain wasn’t what most people saw as useful.” Evie said, then realized what she had just implied. She snapped her mouth shut, hoping that Fairy Godmother wouldn’t question her on it. 

“Why do you like blue so much?” FG asked, completely changing the subject. 

Evie was a little taken aback by the fact that she backed off, but she certainly wasn’t complaining. “I don’t know, I’ve always been drawn to it. When I was little, Mother always dressed me in red, but I would run off and change into blue at any chance I got until she finally agreed that blue was a good color for me. She thought it would clash with my hair.” 

“What color hair were you born with?”

“Blue.” Evie said in confusion, twirling a lock around her finger. “Did you think it was fake?”

“No one here has colored hair. Does that mean Mal’s hair is naturally purple?” Evie nodded. “I wonder if it has something to do with the barrier.”

“Many of the girls on the Isle have colored hair.” Evie informed her. 

“That’s very interesting.” Fairy Godmother smiled at her. “Tell me about your friends. When did you meet them?”

“I was six when I met Mal. Our mothers worked together; in the beginning, the Isle was split between Mother, Maleficent, Jafar, Cruella, and Ursula, but over time, most territory was given to Maleficent. She would make sure my mother’s castle was protected, and she would allow her first pick over most of the makeup that came to the Isle in exchange for her territory and loyalty. Mother would do little jobs for Maleficent, and when she did, she would bring me along and Mal was always there. We weren’t allowed to have friends, so we called each other a team. We terrorized the market together.” Evie couldn’t help but smile. “People were so scared of us because they knew who are mothers were and that we weren’t to be messed with. We met the boys not too long after and then we became a gang.” 

“What do you mean by a ‘gang’?”

“We worked together.” Evie said, shifting uncomfortably. She didn’t want to tell Fairy Godmother some of the things they had done. She knew it would change her view on her. “When we got old enough, some of our parents’ jobs were pawned off on us and we helped each other get it done.” 

“What kind of jobs?” 

Evie bit her lip, trying desperately to block out her memories. She remembered what Mal had said about her meeting with Dr. Bren yesterday and decided to try it. 

“I don’t want to talk about that. Dr. Bren told Mal she could have boundaries. Can I have boundaries too?”

“Of course, dear. Anytime something gets too personal to talk about, tell me and we will stop. The goal of talking about your past isn’t to push you so far that you trigger an uncomfortable memory.” Fairy Godmother smiled reassuringly. “Do you want to keep going and talk about something else, or is that enough for today?” 

Evie shrugged. “What else do you want to know?” 

“Tell me about you and Mal. The two of you have a bond that I’ve never seen before, and it’s honestly a little unsettling.” 

Evie couldn’t fight back her smile. “Yeah, we’ve always had that effect on others.” She thought about her girlfriend lovingly. “From the first time I saw her, I knew there was something different. She wasn’t allowed around other children, but Mother had me mingle with other kids as often as possible to help develop my social habits. As I’m sure you’ve seen, Mal is a bit socially delayed.” She couldn’t help but giggle at her girlfriend’s expense. 

Even FG laughed. “Yes, I’ve noticed.” 

“I was the first person she ever met who was her own age, and even then we only saw each other every couple weeks. It took a while for her to really start talking, but she protected me from the first day.” 

“Now that I have no problem believing.” 

“When we were 8, our parents let us loose on the Isle. We were allowed out as long as we followed their rules and completed the tasks we were given. The four of us would work together to get things done so that we could hang out the rest of the time. Mal knew my mother would have a heart attack if I ruined one of my dresses, so she always brought a spare change of clothes for me to wear while we played.” Evie’s face broke out into a smile, and she honestly forgot who she was talking to for a moment. “The first time she kissed me, we were 9. I loved playing princess and they would all play along. Mal rescued me and gave me a kiss, and that was when I knew I was in love with her.” 

“When did Mal know?”

“Well, we didn’t use the word ‘love’, but she always insists that she knew things were different with us from that first day in the market. Mal’s love is usually shown through her overprotectiveness, so I wouldn’t be surprised if that was true.” Evie realized it was Fairy Godmother she was talking to and tried to wipe the lovesick smirk off of her face. 

“How old were you when you started to date officially?” 

“Carlos and Jay always say that we were practically dating since we were 6, but we didn’t actually acknowledge it until we were 12. Mal let everyone know I was hers and that was that.” 

“What do you mean you are hers?” Fairy Godmother wondered. 

Evie tensed up slightly. “That’s just how we say that we’re dating on the Isle. She is mine too.” 

“How did your mothers react to the two of you dating?” 

Now, every part of Evie’s body was tense. She dug her fingernails into her palm. “Boundary.” 

Fairy Godmother nodded in understanding. “Okay. Would you like to continue, or are you ready to stop for the day?” 

She knew she was too close to a memory, so she shook her head. “Can we stop?” 

“We can stop any time you are ready, Evie.” Fairy Godmother smiled. “You have made some amazing progress today, my dear. It may not seem like it, but just the little bit that you opened up is such an improvement from when you first came to Auradon. By the way, Miss Andrews spoke to me about your designs. I’m very pleased to hear that you joined the sewing club.” 

“I think it might help me get out of my head a little more.” 

“I agree.” FG looked at her. “I want to make a deal with you, okay? I want you to come see me every Wednesday instead of going to therapy. If there are any other days where you feel like you need to talk, I want you to know that my door is always open to you. Even if it isn’t Wednesday, you can come here and I will talk for as long as you like. Okay?”

“Okay.” Evie nodded. “Thank you. I don’t know what this whole therapy thing is supposed to be like, but I do feel a little better now that I’ve talked to you.” 

“I’m glad to hear that.” Fairy Godmother stood. “Is Mal waiting for you outside, or did you walk on your own?” 

“She had to go to detention and then she was going to come back and wait for me.” Evie glanced at the clock and then smiled. “She should be here by now.” 

“She is very protective.” FG said, earning another smile from Evie. “I’ll see you tomorrow in class.”

“Bye FG. Thank you.” Evie exited the office. 

Her eyes landed on Mal immediately, who was so caught up in whatever she was sketching that she didn’t even noticed she came out. 

Evie walked over slowly, peering over Mal’s shoulder at the sketchbook. She gasped. “Are you drawing me naked?” 

Mal jumped at her sudden appearance. “Huh?” 

“Your picture.” She nodded down at the paper. 

Mal smiled sheepishly. “You’re just too perfect. I had to draw you.” 

Evie studied the drawing, the gentle lines to represent all of the curves and edges of her body. It was beautiful. “Is that really how you see me?” 

Mal reached out, pulling her onto her lap. “Baby, this drawing doesn’t even come close to how I see you.” She gave her a gentle kiss. “Are you ready to go?”

Mmhmm.” Evie stood up, letting Mal pack up all of her things. The purple haired girl grabbed her hand and they started to walk together. 

“How was it? You seem good.” 

“It was…I don’t know the word. I just feel like we’re keeping so many secrets and it’s nice not having to hide every single detail of our lives. Besides, I don’t know why we’re not being honest about the Isle. It’ll probably benefit our plan to let them know of some of the horrible things that happen there.” 

“That’s a good point.” Mal agreed. “Not that I want them to particularly know our horrors, but still.” 

“FG said I can meet with her now on Wednesdays instead of Dr. Bren, and that if there’s ever a time I need to talk, her door is always open.”

“What kinds of things did you talk about?”

“How we met. I told her that we all did jobs for our parents, and when she asked what kind of jobs, I told her that was a boundary and she changed the subject. She wanted to know about me and you and how we got together, so we talked about that a little bit. She asked how our mothers responded to our relationship and I said that was another boundary, so we stopped talking.” 

“It sounds like you made some progress at least.” Mal kissed her forehead. “The boys went to Tourney practice after detention. Do you want to go watch?”

“Sure.” 

They walked to the Tourney field together, laughing and joking about different things. Right now, Evie felt invincible. She was happy and didn’t feel like the world was caving in on her. She smiled and looked over at Mal, knowing that she was part of the reason she felt that way. 

They sat down on the bleachers once they got to the Tourney field. They were excited to see their boys in action. They had missed a lot of practice last week, but Coach was understanding and still willing to let them play (Evie was sure it was because Jay was better than all the rest of the boys on the team, even without experience).

Evie felt sudden warmth and looked over, smiling when she saw that Mal had wrapped her jacket around her. She leaned her head against Mal’s arm, feeling her girlfriend’s hand come over to rest on her thigh. The cool air and comforting atmosphere caused her to close her eyes.

She was nearly asleep when Mal suddenly jumped up. “Are you kidding me!?” she screamed. 

Evie blinked, trying to clear her vision. She looked at the field, seeing that Jay was helping Carlos up. 

“He just slammed him down!” Mal yelled. “What, do you know you can’t beat him any other way so you instead try and hurt him?” 

Evie stood too, not really understanding what was happening but willing to back Mal anyway. She put a hand on Mal’s shoulder, letting her know that she was there. 

Another kid turned towards her. “Why don’t you shut your mouth? What do you know about Tourney anyway?” 

“Watch your tone.” Jay said, walking dangerously close to the Auradon boy. 

“Back up, back up!” Coach shouted, getting between the boys. “Jay, tell your friend to sit down.” 

“If your friend knows so much, why doesn’t she come out here and try?” the boy questioned. 

Without a second thought, Mal stormed onto the Tourney field. Evie frowned, wondering how far her girlfriend was really going to take this. She had never played Tourney and knew very little about the rules, so she couldn’t imagine that this would end well. 

Mal got the middle of the field and crossed her arms. “Well? Are we going to do this or what?” 

Evie watched anxiously from the sidelines as Mal took Carlos’s spot. Carlos jogged over to her. 

“What is she doing?” he questioned. 

“I have no idea.” She bit her lip nervously. Carlos was by far the smallest player on the field, and Mal was even smaller than him. She didn’t doubt Mal’s strength or abilities, but she knew she could seriously get hurt if she was tackled by one of the boys. 

Coach blew the whistle and everyone started to move. Evie gripped Carlos’s hand, biting her lip as she watched Mal run. Jay got the ball and quickly passed it to Mal. She was running directly towards the guy who had slammed Carlos and Evie waited for him to do the same to Mal. She was surprised when she instead maneuvered around him and scored a point with ease. 

Jay cheered, running over and slapping her on the back. Mal looked the boy up and down. “You know, you shouldn’t count Carlos out. Being small has its perks, mainly moving quicker and staying lower.”

A different guy jogged over. “Coach, can’t she be on the team?” a couple of other boys called out in agreement, and Jay was nodding enthusiastically. 

“Girls can’t play Tourney.” The first guy argued. 

“Really? Because I’ve been reading over the rule book and I don’t see anywhere in there that it says a girl can’t play.” Jay challenged. 

“He’s right.” Coach said. “Mal, are you interested in being on the team?” 

She glanced over towards Evie and Carlos, then back at Coach. “Only if Carlos is too.” 

Evie wasn’t thrilled about it, but at least Mal would be joining a club. That would keep Dr. Bren satisfied, and keep Mal busy. She gently pushed Carlos forward and when he walked onto the field, all of the guys started to cheer except for the first one. 

When practice ended, Mal walked over to her. Evie stood up and Mal carefully adjusted the jacket on her shoulders, pulling it forward to make sure it was still keeping her warm. 

“Well that was unexpected.” Mal commented. 

“Definitely.” Evie agreed.

“How do you feel about it?” 

“I’m nervous that you’ll get hurt. I know you’re tough and you’ve been through worse, but you’re small, my love. If someone hits you hard enough…”

“If the team does their job right, they won’t even get close enough to hit me.” Mal told her. 

“How do you feel?” 

Mal shrugged. “It might be fun.”

“Then I’m happy.” Evie leaned forward, nearly connecting their lips. “Just promise me you’ll try your best not to get hurt.” 

“I promise.” Mal met her the rest of the way, sealing the deal with a kiss.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Sorry, I know this chapter kind of ends at a weird place, but I wanted to end things on a positive note for the girls. I don't know how my updates will be in the coming weeks. I am a teacher, and things are kind of unknown with my school shutting down because of the coronavirus. I hope that I can get a lot of writing done, but there is the possibility that things will get busy and I won't have the time. 
> 
> That being said, what kinds of things do you want to see next? Any guesses on what the Core Four may be planning? What parts of Evie and Mal's past are you most interested in seeing? Please let me know your thoughts, I could really use the positivity right now!


	17. Check Ups

The next week passed by without an issue. The VKs were actually shocked with how much things had settled down. 

On Thursday, Evie went to the first sewing club meeting, while Mal went to her first Tourney practice. They both had fun, while led to a much nicer evening than going home and taking a nap because they are so mentally exhausted. Jay went to therapy and actually talked to Dr. Bren, and agreed with the girls that it was helpful. 

On Friday, Evie ate all three meals and managed to keep the food down. They had another pop quiz in math, and Evie and Carlos passed with flying colors (Mal and Jay failed, but they weren’t worried about it, knowing their friends would help them catch up). That night, Audrey and Lonnie invited them to go to the movies with the two of them, Jane, and Ben. They had their first real outing in Auradon, and they all agreed (when they were alone, of course) that it was fun. 

Saturday and Sunday were spent lazing around the girls’ dorm. They played video games, the girls drew, they worked on some homework at Evie’s insistence, and they actually left the room for meals. Time passed too quickly and then it was back to normal life. 

Monday was Carlos’s therapy appointment, and while he talked to Dr. Bren, he said that it didn’t really have as positive of an effect on him as it did on Evie, Jay, and Mal. They all handed in their chemistry reports, which thanks to Evie and Carlos, they aced. 

By Tuesday, Evie’s mood started to shift a little, but Mal was quick to react. She woke her up early and surprised her with all the ingredients she needed to make her special soaps, which helped Evie perk up. After school, Mal went to therapy and Evie went to sewing club, and then met Mal and the boys at Tourney practice. She was surprised to see Audrey there, who explained that she was a cheerleader. Evie divided her attention between her sketches and her friends, and she was so into her drawing that she got a little startled when Mal came over and kissed her on the cheek. 

On Wednesday, Evie met with FG instead of Dr. Bren again. She enjoyed talking to the headmistress and they dug a little deeper into her past. The woman was still respectful of her boundaries and backed off immediately if she said she was uncomfortable. 

On Thursday morning, Evie woke up uncomfortable. She ate breakfast, then spent the first half of 1st period in the bathroom trying to talk herself out of throwing up. Mal came and sat with her and stroked her hair until she calmed down, then went back to class with her. Evie thought that would ruin the day, but her friends quickly snapped her out of her mood. She had sewing club again, and afterwards, she walked with Audrey to the Tourney field. More than once, she saw that Mal’s attention was on her instead of practice and every time, those green eyes made her stomach flutter. 

But nothing could bring Evie down quicker than when she woke up on Friday and saw the date. Her heart instantly plummeted to her stomach and she felt tears fill her eyes. 

She laid back down, cuddling into Mal’s side and resting her head on her chest. She fought hard to keep the tears back, but before she could stop them, they spilled down her cheeks. 

Evie bit her lip, hoping to at least keep her sobbing quiet. She clung to Mal, needing her comfort but not wanting to wake her up. She didn’t know how long she cried for before she felt fingers start to run through her hair. That was always the first thing Mal did when she woke up. 

“Morning, babe.” She said quietly, her voice raspier from sleep. “You’re usually up by now.” A few seconds later, Mal was sitting up, forcing Evie into a sitting position too. “What happened? Why are you crying?” 

Evie tried to talk, but all that came out was a sob. She covered her face and cried into her hands. 

“Hey, it’s okay. Talk to me, Pretty Girl. What’s going on?” Mal pulled her back to lay down, then laid on her side to face her, propping her head up with her hand. She stroked her fingers over Evie’s cheek, but that wasn’t the comfort she needed. She scooted closer to her girlfriend and buried her face in her neck. 

Mal held her for a while, squeezing tightly and whispering quietly to her. Evie knew she was supposed to be up and getting ready for school, but she couldn’t get the tears to stop. 

Once she was finally a little calmer, Mal moved away from her so they could make eye contact. “Are you feeling a little bit better now?” Evie shrugged. “What happened?” 

“Do you know what today is?” 

Mal shrugged. “Friday?”

“It’s been a month, M. One whole month since we left the Isle.” She sniffled. “I just feel like we haven’t even made any progress!” 

“We have.” Mal reassured her. “We’re going to class and therapy, we all joined a club after school, our grades are good, we’re making friends, we aren’t getting in fights, you’re actually eating, we’re healthy. Baby, we knew that this was going to take a little while. We’re finally starting to fit in, and you know that’s the first step.” 

“I wish we could move quicker.” 

“Me too.” Mal kissed her gently. “No matter how long it takes, we’re following through on our plan, okay?” 

“Promise?”

“Promise.” Mal confirmed. “Now go get dressed so we can go down to breakfast.” 

Evie got up and went to the bathroom to start getting ready. She groaned when she saw her reflection- her eyes were red and swollen, her cheeks were flushed, her…

“Nope, none of that.” Mal interrupted, pressing a loud kiss to her cheek. “You still look gorgeous, even after all that crying, so stop.” 

Evie kissed her cheek in return and then got to work. Both girls moved quickly, trying to make sure they weren’t late for breakfast. Evie honestly wouldn’t mind missing it, but she knew that Mal needed to eat. 

She finished her makeup first, then hair, and finally got dressed. Mal patiently waited for her on the bed and when she saw she was finished, she stood and grabbed both of their backpacks, offering Evie’s to her. 

“Thank you.” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal wrapped her up in a hug. “I love you, Pretty Girl.” 

Just like every other time she heard those three words, Evie’s heart melted. “I love you too.” She let out a big sigh, trying to release some of the tension from her body. “Come on or we’re going to be late.” 

Evie held Mal’s hand the whole way down to the cafeteria. Though they were definitely late and wouldn’t have long to eat, she still wanted to enjoy this. It was a nice day outside and everything seemed so much brighter. 

“Want to go on a walk later?” Mal asked. 

“Yes.” Evie agreed. She was glad it was Friday. It seemed like they had a commitment every other day of the week, but Friday was usually left open (unless someone ended up with a detention).

“Go sit, babe. I’ll grab breakfast.” Mal told her. 

Evie just nodded and scanned the room. She found Jay and Carlos quickly, seeing that Ben, Audrey, Lonnie, Doug, and surprisingly Jane were there too. 

“Wow, about time.” Jay joked. “What were you guys up to?” 

“We just woke up late.” Evie answered. She hoped her tone would convey to the boy that he needed to stop talking; she didn’t want anyone else to pick up on her mood. 

Of course, the ever-observant Carlos immediately saw through her voice and his head shot up. His eyes scanned over her as if that would tell him everything he needed to know. She just shook her head and he knew to drop it. 

There were only 8 chairs at each table, and with Jane joining them, that meant only one seat was left. It was on the end next to Carlos and Evie walked over to sit next to him. He grabbed her hand and squeezed and she squeezed back. 

“Good morning, Mal.” Ben greeted. 

Mal came over with a tray of food and set it down in front of Evie. “Up.” She ordered gently, causing Evie to stand. Mal sat next to Carlos, then wrapped an arm around Evie and pulled her over to sit on her lap. 

“You can have my seat so you both can eat.” Carlos offered quietly. Evie respected the fact that he tried to keep things subtle. 

“We’re good.” Mal responded. She glanced up at Evie. “Anything look good?” 

She scanned the random foods Mal had brought over. She ended up settling on a piece of toast. She reached over to take a little packet of strawberry jam that Mal had grabbed, then carefully spread it onto the bread. Evie grimaced as she stared down at it. 

“Just a few bites.” Mal whispered, then kissed her shoulder. 

Evie sighed and bit into it. It didn’t taste bad, but she just wasn’t in the mood for eating. She tried to think about something else while she forced herself to eat, but her mind kept wandering back to food. 

\-----

Ben had made it a point to try and have at least one meal a day with Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos. Sometimes, they laughed and joked around, and sometimes, it was like pulling teeth to get them to speak, but Ben did genuinely like them. They were so different from the people in Auradon and he loved hearing their perspectives. 

The last week had gone relatively well. They all seemed happier, and they spent most of the time talking. Ever since Ben went with them to the movies, he had noticed one strange detail. Though Evie was arguably the most polite and conversational of the four teenagers, she often spoke less than everyone else at meal times. 

He started to keep an eye on the situation, wondering if he could figure out why. Ever since they came to Auradon, he had seen the VKs had strange reactions to food. Carlos and Jay would eat anything and everything in sight, especially if it was sweet. They would often have their trays piled high with food, and Ben couldn’t imagine eating that much, but the boys usually finished everything. Even Mal had a pretty good appetite and ate bigger portions, almost always cleaning her plate. 

The first thing that stuck out to him about Evie was that she rarely grabbed her own food. He had walked through the lunch line with her and Mal one day and noticed that Mal pulled both trays and placed food on each. He was confused when he saw Mal piling plenty of food on her own tray, but very little on Evie’s. 

That’s when his first theory hit him. What if Mal didn’t want Evie to eat a lot because she didn’t want her to gain weight? As soon as he thought of it, he shook his head. There is no way that the girl he saw carefully holding Evie on that closet floor would ever do something that could hurt her, like not feeding her enough food on purpose. 

He decided to watch a little closer. That’s when he noticed that even though Evie always had the least amount of food at the table, she was always the last one finished. She would take a painstakingly long amount of time to cut her food, and he watched her shuffle it around her plate to different places to make it look like she had eaten more. He had never seen her finish something before.

After seeing that, Ben started to observe the other three’s reactions to Evie. Jay and Carlos didn’t seem overly concerned, though he didn’t notice that they would slide their drinks across the table to Evie sometimes without her even having to speak. 

It was Mal’s reaction that gave the most away. Ben was subtle with his staring and he tried not to let them see how interested he was. But he couldn’t help but notice the way Mal would constantly lean over to whisper to her, or how she was always touching her. That seemed to be something different about them in general- it was rare to see Mal and Evie next to each other and not have some part of them touching. 

Even now, Ben was studying the two girls. Breakfast was almost over, and yet Evie spent an abnormal amount of time spreading jam onto her toast. She took a tiny bite, but seemed completely uninterested in the food. He noticed how Mal’s left arm was wrapped securely around Evie’s waist, while her right hand was stroking Evie’s arm. She leaned in to whisper to her, and though Ben couldn’t hear, he was guessing she told her to eat because then Evie brought the toast up to her lips and took another tiny bite.

After she took the bite, Evie put the toast down. She turned her body so she could rest her head on Mal’s shoulder, and the purple haired girl sighed, but didn’t protest. The hand that was stroking her arm moved instead to her hair. 

Finally, Ben’s curiosity got the best of him. He didn’t know if they would answer, but he at least had to try. 

“Evie?” he called out. 

Mal’s head immediately snapped up, looking to see what he wanted. Evie sat up slightly. 

“Yes, Ben?” she asked softly. 

“Are you alright?” he was glad that everyone else was wrapped up in a different conversation, though he would bet that Carlos and Jay were still half tuned into what he was saying to the girls. The four of them always seemed to be dividing their attention between what they were doing and what their friends were doing. 

“I’m fine.”

“You’ve hardly touched your food and you seem upset.” He observed. 

“She said she’s fine.” Mal said, her voice a lot more tense than Evie’s, clearly telling him to back off. 

“I’m just worried about you. You don’t seem like you like the food, and if there’s something else I can get, I’ll…”

“Do you know what today is?” Evie interrupted, sitting up fully so she could turn on Mal’s lap and face him. 

Ben nodded. “Friday?” 

“One month ago today, we left the Isle.” Mal told him. 

“Oh.” It had completely slipped Ben’s mind. He started to smile, but then he realized that they didn’t seem to be happy. “Are you sad?” 

“It’s a lot of weird emotions.” Mal responded, her hand never stopping its movement through Evie’s long, blue hair. 

The bell rang, interrupting their conversation. Mal waited patiently for Evie to stand, then collected all their leftovers. Ben busied himself with grabbing his backpack, but he was still listening to the girls. 

“You didn’t eat.” Evie whispered. 

“Taking care of you was more important.”

“M…”

“You act like I won’t be down here again in a couple hours. It’s fine, E.” he looked up just in time to see Mal kiss Evie’s forehead, then reach out her hand. Evie took it without hesitation and they walked out of the cafeteria together. 

Ben started to think over the new information. Maybe they were just homesick. A month was a long time to be away from the place where you grew up. He started to think about what it would feel like if he left home for a month. He would miss his parents and his friends. 

That’s when he got a great idea. Ben grabbed his backpack and hurried off to find Fairy Godmother, hoping his surprise would make them feel better.

\-----

“Hello, children!” Fairy Godmother greeted as soon as they walked into Goodness class. 

Carlos didn’t know if he would ever get used to how cheery everyone in Auradon was. They all acted like they had never had a bad day in their lives, and honestly, they probably hadn’t. 

“Hello.” Evie said, while Mal and the boys grumbled. Fairy Godmother was on their backs about being polite in her classroom, so they had come to learn that it was better to just do it on their own instead of having her stare at them until they did it well enough individually. 

“Today, we are not going to have our normal class.” FG informed them. 

“Seriously? We can go?” Jay questioned, already standing. 

“No, we have something else to do instead.” She walked closer to them and Carlos knew that whatever it was, it wasn’t going to be fun. FG had definitely toned it down since she started talking to Evie during her therapy time, which he was grateful for, so he was curious to know what she had planned. 

“What is it?” Mal demanded. 

“We are all going to the health center.” 

Carlos listened as Mal and Jay started to protest immediately. He glanced over at Evie, who looked apprehensive, but didn’t speak. He knew exactly why she was upset today, and going to the health center was not going to help things. 

“Why?” 

“You have been in Auradon for a month now. Do you remember when you came here and you met Dr. Williams?” 

Mal scoffed. “Don’t tell me we have to deal with that asshole again.” 

“Language, Mal.” FG scolded automatically. “When you came the first time, you were evaluated and given vaccines to make sure you stay healthy. It is important for you to have a follow-up.”

“Why?”

“Because it helps us plan for what to do next.” 

“So if Dr. Williams says we’re fine, does that mean we won’t have to go to therapy anymore?” Carlos asked hopefully. 

“No.” FG smiled at them sympathetically. “Dr. Williams is in charge of how you are doing physically. Dr. Bren will be the one to dismiss you from therapy when she thinks you are ready.” 

The four of them groaned, knowing that it would be a long time until they would be done with therapy if it was up to Dr. Bren. Though Carlos didn’t really mind her, and he knew Mal and Jay were starting to hate her a little less, he still wasn’t happy with going to therapy. 

“Do we have to?” Evie wondered. 

“Yes, I’m sorry. I know this isn’t fun for you all, and I wish you didn’t have to, but it is part of the conditions that were put in place when the VK Exchange Program was created.” She stood. “Now, please gather your things.”

“Are you coming with us?” Mal asked. 

“Yes. Is that okay with you?”

“Yes.” Evie answered.

The four of them grabbed their bags and walked out the door. Fairy Godmother led the way to the health center, chatting about anything and everything that popped int her mind. 

Mal and Evie led the group, followed by Jay and Carlos. Carlos knew Evie wasn’t in the best place today, and he could see how tightly she was gripping Mal’s hand. He just wanted to get through this with no major issues. 

Fairy Godmother opened the door to the health center, then moved aside so the four teens could walk in. They stood uncomfortably in the lobby, and Carlos didn’t miss the way Mal was a half-step in front of Evie. He came up behind them and put a hand on Mal’s shoulder for a second, silently letting her know that he was there and he had her back. 

Dr. Bren and Dr. Williams walked out together. While Carlos had gotten used to the therapist, he didn’t like the doctor they met when they first came to Auradon. He remembered Evie’s comment about how he didn’t explain anything that he was doing before he did it, and he hoped that Ben really did have a conversation with him about it. 

“Hello everyone.” Dr. Bren greeted. “Now that you’ve been in Auradon for a month, it’s important to reevaluate your health. I’m going to do a quick check-in with how you are feeling now that you’ve had some time to adjust here, and Dr. Williams is going to do a physical examination for each of you.” 

“Why?” Mal questioned. 

“Remember when you came to Auradon and you got vaccinated? We need to check and make sure they have been working and you haven’t gotten sick.”

“We’re not sick.” Jay chimed in. 

“I’m glad to hear that, but we still have to assess you.” 

Dr. Williams stepped forward then, holding gowns in his arms. He passed one out to each of them. “I am going to put you each into a room and…” 

As he explained, Carlos noticed Evie getting more and more agitated. He remembered that when they were kept here the first time, Evie had refused to change into the gown (for obvious reasons). He didn’t know how things would go this time, but he wouldn’t be surprised if she refused again. 

“I’m not okay with that.” Mal interrupted, gaining Carlos’s attention again. 

“What do you mean, Mal?” Dr. Bren asked, and suddenly Carlos understood why she was there. They knew her better than Dr. Williams and they probably thought she could help diffuse any tense situations. 

“I’m staying with Evie.” 

“This won’t take long. You’re just going into different rooms so you have privacy for your exam and…”

“I don’t need privacy.” Mal argued. “You really think I’m going to leave my girlfriend alone in a room wearing only this flimsy paper gown with this guy who was an asshole the first time we were here? You’re fucking delusional.” 

“Mal, I would never try and hurt Evie or…” Dr. Williams started. 

“May I intervene?” Fairy Godmother interrupted. “Mal, would it be okay with you if I stayed with Evie?”

Carlos could see how tense Mal was, and he knew she was probably ready to explode. But then, Evie let go of her hand and stepped forward. 

“Yes, that’s fine.” Evie responded. “Can we just get this over with?” 

“I’ll take you to your rooms.” Dr. Williams said. He led the way down the hallway, the four teens, Fairy Godmother, and Dr. Bren following. He stopped in front of four rooms, which Carlos could tell were the exact same ones they stayed in when they came to Auradon. 

“How long do we have to stay?” he questioned. He could tell his friends were nervous too. Anyone on the outside of their group wouldn’t have noticed, but he could see Jay practically bouncing back and forth, Mal’s clenched fists, and Evie biting her lip. 

“This whole thing should take less than an hour.” Dr. Bren answered. “You’ll be back in time for lunch.” 

Mal nodded and, as usual, took the first step. She went over to Evie, kissed her forehead and whispered something to her, then went into one of the rooms. Jay moved next, shooting both Evie and Carlos a look. Evie and Fairy Godmother went into the third room, leaving Carlos in the fourth. 

He changed quickly into his gown, hoping to be done before someone walked in the room. Then, he sat down on the table and waited for Dr. Williams to come in. Carlos really hoped this was just a quick exam and that it didn’t bring up anything traumatizing for anyone. But based on their track record so far, he knew that would be nothing short of a miracle. 

\-----

“I’ll stand by the door while you change.” Fairy Godmother said as she turned, facing out the small window. She could hear Evie moving around as she took off her elaborate outfit; she had come to realize that the teen always wore multiple layers of clothing, all meticulously designed to fit into the perfect ensemble. 

“You can turn now.” Evie called out quietly. 

Fairy Godmother turned around and was a little surprised by the girl’s appearance. She looked so tiny in the white gown, which stretched down to her knees. Her arms, legs, and feet were bare, and she stared down at her lap. 

FG went over and sat in the chair next to the one Evie was sitting in. “Are you alright, dear?” 

Evie looked up at her with a half-smile, half-grimace. “I’m not a big fan of doctors.” 

“Did you have a doctor on the Isle?” 

She shook her head. “Not really. No one was really trained to know what to do, so most people relied on herbs and potions to help them get better.” 

“Did it work?”

“Sometimes. It depends on how sick you were.” She could see how agitated Evie was, and noticed the girl twisting the rings around on her fingers. She decided to change the subject. 

“Tell me about your jewelry. Did you make it?” 

Normally, Evie didn’t acknowledge the quick subject changes. But today, she looked up and actually made eye contact with FG. “I know what you’re doing.” 

“Like I told you before, the point of this is not to push you so far that you retreat into a memory. When you start to get upset, it’s okay to change the subject until you’re ready to talk about it.” 

“Thank you.” Evie told her, her voice so genuine that it made FG’s heart ache. 

“Of course, dear. Now tell me about the jewelry.” 

Evie actually smiled as she held up her right hand. She had on three rings, one on her index finger and two on her ring finger. She pointed to the index finger first, showing off the bright red ruby. “This one is an old family heirloom. It belonged to a grandmother a few generations back.” She pointed to her ring finger as Fairy Godmother studied it. One had a small diamond of some sort, and the other was silver and wrapped around her finger up to her knuckle. “The smaller one is from Jay.” 

Fairy Godmother was surprised. “He bought it for you?” 

Evie let out a genuine laugh, and FG smiled at the sound. “Yeah right, no kid on the Isle could get their hands on this unless they stole it. He took it from someone and he had planned to give it to his father, but then he brought it to me instead because he thought it looked like something I would like.” She trailed her finger up to the longer ring. “This one is from a friend of mine.” 

“What is the significance?” 

“She made it for me. She’s great at making jewelry and accessories.” Evie reached a hand up, touching the small braid across the top of her head. “The little braids were her idea.” 

“What about the other hand?” Fairy Godmother looked at Evie’s left hand. There was only one ring, in the shape of an oval with an indigo jewel, and it was on her ring finger. FG had seen it before and noticed that Evie never took it off. “Let me guess. Is that one from Mal?” 

“Yes.” Evie smiled softly, tracing the shape of the jewel. 

“Do you ever take it off?” 

“Never.” Evie brought her hand over and rested it on top of her heart.

FG suddenly realized which finger the ring was on and started to get curious. “Is it an engagement ring?” 

Evie shook her head. “No. It’s a promise that as long as I am alive, I am safe and protected and loved because I am Mal’s.”

Fairy Godmother was still a little worried about how close the girls were. She didn’t particularly like Mal’s possessiveness, or how Evie seemed so willing to be treated as if she was owned by Mal. Evie looked up and studied her for a few seconds.

“I know it sounds weird to you.” Evie said, surprising the headmistress. She rarely elaborated without being asked. “That’s what you’re thinking, right? That Mal and I are too dependent on each other? Life is very different on the Isle, and because of that, we have different rules than you do in Auradon. As much as I belong to Mal, she belongs to me. I know she can be a little overprotective, but that’s because she always had to be and it’s hard for her to change that right away, especially after the situation with Chad. Mal and I have always had an intense relationship and people get a little weirded out by it, but if it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t be here. She has kept me alive, both physically and mentally, for so many years and even though you might not understand, we’re good for each other, okay?” 

Fairy Godmother was a little startled by the complete honesty in Evie’s voice. She knew she would just have to trust the girls to know their limits with each other, and hope that Evie would feel strong enough to pull away from Mal if it was needed. “Okay.” 

There was a knock on the door and then Dr. Bren entered. When FG looked over at Evie, she noticed all traces of a smile were gone from her face. She sat completely straight, legs crossed, with her eyes glued to the therapist. 

“Hello, Evie.” Dr. Bren greeted. She pulled a chair over to sit in front of her. “How are you?”

“I’m fine, how are you?”

“I’m doing well. It’s nice to see you again.” 

FG couldn’t help but smile at Evie’s polite nod back; she knew that the girl would rather be almost anywhere other than here right now, but she appreciated her politeness. 

“Now that you’ve been in Auradon for a month, tell me how you feel.” 

“I feel fine.” Fairy Godmother gave her a look, silently telling her to add more details. Evie sighed, but complied. “School is going well. I joined sewing club.” 

“Really? That is fantastic! I’m glad that you’ll be able to meet some other students who have the same interest as you.” Dr. Bren scribbled something on her notepad. “Have you had any issues since you’ve come here, other than the incident with Chad Charming?” 

Evie instantly looked down. FG reached out, gently touching the girl’s hand. She had never tried to touch one of the VKs before, never knowing what their reaction would be. But she had seen Mal and the boys hug Evie or hold her hand when she was upset, so she hoped it would work. She was pleasantly surprised when Evie gripped her hand back. 

“No.” she responded quietly. 

“Has everyone been helpful to you since you arrived in Auradon?” 

“Fairy Godmother has, and Ben. Even Audrey, Lonnie, and Doug have done a lot for us, and the teachers are starting to come around.” 

“How has the food been? Is there anything else you would like us to try and incorporate in your meals?” 

FG felt Evie tense up and she looked at her curiously. She had never spoken to her about food before, but there was obviously an issue there or she wouldn’t have reacted. 

“The food is good.” 

“Do you feel like the school work is too difficult?” 

“No.” 

Dr. Bren continued to read off of her notepad, not noticing that she was losing Evie’s interest and her answers were getting shorter and shorter. FG was now understanding why Evie hadn’t liked going to speak to the therapist. She knew Dr. Bren was good at her job, but she just didn’t seem to know how to adjust her questions to fit different children. 

“Are you happy with your room assignment?”

“Yes.” 

“Any issues with your roommate?” 

“No.” 

“Is there anything you feel like you need that you were not provided with when you came to Auradon?” 

“No.”

“Is there anything you want?” 

“No.” 

“Is there anything else you would like to tell me?” Evie just shook her head. “Alright. Thank you, Evie.” She turned and walked out of the room. 

Fairy Godmother was still holding Evie’s hand, and she squeezed it. “I can see now why you don’t like therapy.” 

Evie turned to her in surprise. “What?” 

“She didn’t pay any attention to you or your reactions.” 

Evie shrugged. “The actual therapy appointments weren’t as bad as that. When she talks to me, I just feel like she’s doing it out of obligation, not because she actually cares, you know?”

“Yes, I get it.” Fairy Godmother squeezed her hand. “Thank you for understanding that I do care about you, Evie.” 

She smiled. “Thank you for caring.” 

They talked quietly for a few minutes, staying away from any big subjects. Evie talked about her classes and sewing club, and then told her about how her friends had been doing during Tourney practice. 

“Have the rules and the game been explained to you all?” Fairy Godmother wondered. 

“Yeah, Jay read the rule book as soon as Ben took him to the first practice. I made him retell me things from the book so I could be sure that he really did understand what he wasn’t allowed to do. Then Carlos read the book and came up with like ten extra things Jay never bothered to look at, and then once Mal joined the team, both of the boys explained everything to her. Sometimes we go over to the field on the weekends so they can practice.” 

“Do you ever play with them?”

Evie smiled. “Yeah, when they force me because they need an even number.”

“Do you like it? Would you want to join the team?” 

Evie laughed. “That wouldn’t be in anyone’s best interest.” 

“I’m sure you’re not that bad.” 

“But can you imagine what Mal would do if someone laid a finger on me?” Evie shook her head. “I’d rather watch anyway.” 

Fairy Godmother laughed at the girl’s comment, knowing that she was probably right. As she sat with Evie, she was grateful that she trusted her enough to talk to her about these things.

There was a knock on the door and Evie’s smile disappeared again. Dr. Williams entered, then came over and sat down without a word. 

“On the bed.” He directed. 

Fairy Godmother watched as Evie stood. It took her a second to realize, but the girl was actually trembling. She walked slowly to the bed and lifted herself onto it.

“Why does she need to get on the bed?” FG questioned. She knew what steps would be taken in the medical exam, but she wanted Evie to know so she wouldn’t be as nervous. 

“I’m going to start with her physical.” Dr. Williams explained, his focus completely on the headmistress, not even sparing a glance at the teenager. 

“I’m not your patient, she is.” FG interrupted. “She has never been through this before, and I’m sure she would appreciate being walked through the procedure.” 

Dr. Williams looked like he wanted to complain, but he just turned and looked at Evie. “I’m going to be checking your eyes, ears, nose, and throat. We’ll talk about how you’ve been feeling since you came to Auradon, I’ll make sure there are no issues with your heart, lungs, or stomach, and we’ll check your height and weight.” He said. 

Evie nodded and FG could tell she was a little more relaxed now. She turned to look at her. “You’re staying?”

“I’ll be right here the whole time.” Fairy Godmother confirmed. 

“I’ll take your temperature first.” Dr. Williams came over to her, holding the thermometer. He put it near her face and Evie stared at him in bewilderment, not understanding what she was supposed to do. “Open your mouth.” 

“The thermometer goes under your tongue.” FG explained. “It will tell us if you have a fever.” 

Evie reluctantly opened her mouth and Dr. Williams slid the thermometer under her tongue. The girl’s eyes were shut and FG knew that she was struggling. 

It beeped and Dr. Williams pulled it out. “98.6, no fever.” He wrote that down on her chart. He grabbed another tool and before he could do anything, Fairy Godmother spoke. 

“What are you going to do with that?” 

“This will shine a light into your ears, eyes, nose, and mouth so I can look at them and make sure there is no problem.” Dr. Williams directed her on what she should do and Evie looked far from comfortable, but at least she understood what was happening. 

Fairy Godmother made a mental note to talk to Ben about this. She knew he intended on bringing more Isle kids over and she didn’t believe that Dr. Williams’s bedside manner was the best for dealing with traumatized children. 

Dr. Williams pulled out his stethoscope and slid it beneath the collar of Evie’s gown. She flinched. “It’s cold.” He warned after it was already pressed against her skin. Fairy Godmother felt like that wasn’t even the reason she had flinched. 

She stood up and went over to stand next to her. “You’re safe, Evie.” She said quietly. “I’m right here, remember?” She nodded, but didn’t speak.

“Is there a problem?” Dr. Williams finally snapped. 

“Yes, there is. You can tell Evie is uncomfortable. She has never been through an exam like this before, and it would be appreciated if you could just pay a little bit better attention to your patient.” Fairy Godmother scolded. “She’s a child, for Heaven’s sake! How would you feel if someone treated your daughter this way?” 

“I apologize.” He said. “Please take some deep breaths so I can check your heart.” 

Fairy Godmother had seen Evie’s terrible panic attack during Goodness class. She had never brought it up to the VKs, but she could tell that she was nervous and hoped that this wouldn’t all lead to another panic attack. 

“Can I touch your back?” she asked quietly. Evie looked weary, but nodded. FG put her hand on Evie’s back and rubbed gently. “Try and calm down first, okay?” 

Evie nodded and shut her eyes, taking slow and steady breaths. About a minute later, she was much calmer. She turned to Dr. Williams. “I’m ready.” 

He stuck the stethoscope back under the top of her gown, pressing it over her heart. Evie took deep breaths, allowing him to hear what he needed. “Now, I’m going to do the same thing to your back.” He removed the stethoscope and moved it to the back of her gown. Fairy Godmother was relieved he seemed to have caught on a little bit and was at least speaking. 

“Lie down. I’m going to feel your stomach.” 

“Why?” she asked. 

“To make sure everything feels the way it’s supposed to. Parts of your organs can get swollen or something might feel out of place. This is just to check that everything is okay.” 

Evie laid back slowly and FG noticed that the nervousness was back. As soon as Dr. Williams’ hands touched Evie’s stomach, she shut her eyes. He moved his hands along her abdomen, pressing down in different areas. Evie let out a small whimper. 

“Do you feel pain?” he questioned. She didn’t answer.

“Evie?” FG called out.

Her eyes flew open. “Huh?” 

“Do you feel any pain?” 

“No.” she said quietly. 

“You may sit up.” Dr. Williams said. “Now, I have a few questions for you. Have you ever had any type of surgery?”

“No.” 

“Any major illnesses?”

“No.” 

“When was your last menstrual cycle?” 

Evie shrugged. “I don’t know.” 

“Does it come every month?” she shook her head no. “That’s something we’re going to want to keep an eye on. Now it’s time for a height and weight check. Slide off the bed and come over here.” 

Evie followed Dr. Williams over to the side of the room where they had everything set up. He instructed her first to stand against the wall. 

“Five feet, four inches.” He informed them. “Step on the scale.”

“Do I have to?”

“Yes.” 

Fairy Godmother noticed Evie biting her lip as she stepped onto the scale. Dr. Williams looked at the number. 

“101 pounds.” 

FG barely held back a gasp. She knew Evie was underweight, but she had no idea that she was that underweight. 

Evie looked like she was going to be sick. She stared down at her bare feet. 

“We’re going to do the next steps of your vaccines.” Dr. Williams told her. “Go back over and sit on the bed.” 

Evie walked almost robotically over to the bed and climbed back up. She didn’t make eye contact the whole time she sat and waited. Fairy Godmother went over to stand next to her as Dr. Williams prepared the shots. 

“Do you want to talk about how you’re feeling?” she asked her quietly so the doctor wouldn’t hear. 

“No.” Evie said back, barely above a whisper. “Is this almost over?”

“This is the last thing.” Fairy Godmother reassured her. “You’ve been so brave today.” 

“Where’s Mal?” she questioned. “Is she done already?” 

“She is talking to Dr. Bren.” Dr. Williams answered. 

“What about the boys?”

“Jay is finished, Carlos is waiting on me.” 

“Can Jay come in here?” she asked almost desperately. FG picked up on her tone instantly and knew that she needed someone. 

“Let me go grab him.” She offered. She exited the room and went back to the waiting area, seeing that Jay was leafing through a magazine. “Jay?” 

He looked up at her. “Yeah?” 

“Evie would like you to come sit with her.”

He was on his feet in seconds, the magazine long forgotten as he headed in the direction they just came from. Fairy Godmother followed after him, hoping he could help. 

\-----

As soon as Jay went into Evie’s exam room, he knew something was wrong. Everything about her screamed tense and she looked like she was close to losing it. He glanced over at the doctor, ready to attack, and saw that he was preparing the shots. 

“Hey beautiful.” He greeted. “What’s up?” 

Evie reached a hand out to him and he went over, grabbing it with no hesitation. He walked closer to her and as soon as he was within reach, she buried her face in his chest. 

“Please stay with me.” She whispered. 

“Of course.” He said back just as quietly, then kissed the top of her head. “Did they hurt you? Did something happen?”

“No.” she whimpered. “Please just stay.” 

Jay wrapped one arm around Evie’s back, letting her stay cuddled into him. Dr. Williams turned back around with the needles. Jay grabbed Evie’s sleeve and pulled it up so he had access.

Evie flinched as each needle pierced her arm, four shots in total. After it was over, Jay stroked his fingers through her hair and felt her let out a deep sigh. 

“That’s all for the exam. If you start to feel sick or something is wrong, you can always call the center and schedule an appointment.” Dr. Williams said before packing up his supplies and leaving the room. 

“He’s an asshole.” Jay said to Fairy Godmother. 

“I would agree with that.” She came over to stand next to him. “Evie, dear, are you alright?” 

Jay glanced at her, wondering if she would admit what was wrong. He had no clue what had set her off, but he could tell she was uncomfortable. 

“No.” she replied honestly. “I don’t like being touched.” 

As she spoke, she was clinging to Jay, who had both arms wrapped around her. FG noticed too because she gave her a look. 

“You let Mal and the boys touch you all the time. You let me touch you earlier.” 

“I trust them.” Evie said, then looked at Fairy Godmother with wide eyes, as if she was just now realizing something. “I trust you.” 

“I am so happy to have earned your trust.” FG smiled. “I’m going to step outside so you can get dressed, unless you would like me to stay.”

“I can handle it.” Jay told her. 

“I’ll see you in a few minutes then.” She excused herself and exited. 

“What happened?” Jay asked, pulling back and stroking a finger across Evie’s cheek. “Where did he touch you? Did he hurt you?” 

“It was part of the exam. He was feeling my stomach to check my organs, and he put his stethoscope under my shirt.” She shivered.

“Why don’t you get dressed?” Jay said. He moved to stand in front of the door instead, letting Evie have a few minutes to put herself back together.

“Let’s go.” She told him once she was ready. He opened the door and they went back to the waiting area.

Mal and Fairy Godmother were waiting, and he knew it would be a couple minutes before Carlos joined them. 

“Hey, Pretty Girl.” Mal greeted, reaching an arm out for Evie. As soon as she saw her girlfriend, the blue haired girl went over and sat in the chair next to her. She let Mal hold her hand and then leaned over so she could rest her head on her shoulder. “What’s wrong?” she kissed the back of her hand. 

“I just want to go back to our room.” Evie responded quietly. 

Mal stared at Jay in confusion, but he just shrugged. He didn’t know what to tell her because even he was really sure what happened. He did believe that part of it was being touched, but he had a feeling that something else was going on. 

“Come here.” Mal ordered gently. Evie stood and moved to in front of her and Mal pulled her down onto her lap. Jay watched as Mal did her best to comfort Evie. He honestly admired that fact that even in the middle of the health center (which was empty besides the three of them, Fairy Godmother, and the women at the front desk), Mal wasn’t afraid to hold Evie and try to help her. 

A few minutes passed before Carlos came out. Dr. Williams and Dr. Bren were right there with him. 

“We would like you all to come back to the room for a discussion.” Dr. Williams stated. “Is it alright if Fairy Godmother joins us?”

“Yes.” Jay answered. If Evie trusted her, then he did too. She was the main person to help them and treat them like normal people, so he didn’t really have a problem with that. 

The four teenagers followed them to a bigger room, which Jay recognized as the common room from when they first arrived in Auradon. They all took a seat, the four teens on one side of the table, the doctors on the other, and FG on the end. 

“We would like to discuss the results of your health exams. Before we begin, I need consent from you all that you are okay with everyone in this room knowing this information.” 

“Whatever.” Jay answered easily. 

“Okay.” Carlos agreed. 

“That’s fine.” Mal said. 

“Evie?” Dr. Bren prodded. 

“Yeah.” She told them with a tiny nod. She was still clinging to Mal’s hand, and upon realization that she was still upset, Mal brought her other hand up and started to rub Evie’s back. 

“We’ll start with Jay.” Dr. Williams began. “You have gained 15 pounds since coming to Auradon, and you are in great health. Dr. Bren has told me that you are participating in therapy, and that you joined the Tourney team. You seem to be adjusting well, and we will stick with the once a week therapy schedule.” 

“Carlos.” Dr. Bren took over. “You have gained 13 pounds, but you are still very small for your age. If you continue to eat larger portions as you have been, we believe it will trigger a growth spurt and cause you to catch up to your peers. You also joined the Tourney team, which is great for socialization. While you have been participating in therapy, I think that you are still holding back and I would like to help you open up more. I am going to extend your therapy sessions for an extra half hour.” 

“But then he’ll miss some of practice.” Jay argued immediately.

“We have spoken to Coach and he agrees that mental health and stability comes first.” Dr. Bren said. 

Jay glanced over at Carlos, who looked crushed. If they increased his time by a half hour, he couldn’t even imagine what they would do to Evie. 

“Mal, you have gained 12 pounds.” Dr. Williams informed them. “You are still underweight, but as long as you increase your calories, you should catch up in no time. Like Jay, you joined Tourney and you are participating in therapy, so your therapy time will stay the same.” 

“That leaves us with Evie.” Dr. Bren stated. Jay clenched his fists and held his breath, just waiting for the shit storm that was about to come from this conversation. “You have only gained four pounds since arriving in Auradon.” Jay let his eyes drift towards his friend, seeing her practically flinch at the words. Suddenly, it all made sense. That’s why she was so upset. “You are still very underweight, and Dr. Williams said you do not have a regular period, which could be caused by your low weight. You did join sewing club, which I am very proud of you for and that is a great opportunity. You are talking to Fairy Godmother on your designated therapy days, but I don’t feel like that is enough. There have been some incidents since you arrived in Auradon that are concerning, to say the least. I want to add another day of therapy.” 

“No.” Evie said. Jay was honestly shocked; Evie very rarely talked back to an adult, and he was surprised that she had managed to fire back before Mal. 

“I’m sorry, but it’s not optional. I am going to add an extra therapy session in on Friday, and I would like to be present while you and Fairy Godmother talk.” 

“I’m not doing it.” Evie argued. “That’s not fair. One of your precious little princes shoves me in a room and forces himself on me and now I’m being punished? Maybe that would be expected back on the Isle, but I can’t believe you would do the same in Auradon.”

“It’s not a punishment…”

“Therapy is a punishment.” She responded. “You expect me to sit in a room for an hour with you listening, writing down little notes as if me speaking to you isn’t going against every instinct in my body. You couldn’t care less about me or my friends, so honestly fuck this. Friday is the only day of the week where we have nothing to do and we can just hang out and pretend to be normal. I’m not giving that up to spend an extra hour a week dealing with this bullshit.” 

“Evie.” Fairy Godmother scolded. Jay raised an eyebrow, wondering how this new development would go over. Evie was now completely pulled away from Mal, sitting up straight and staring daggers at Dr. Bren. Mal looked just as pissed, ready to jump in at any moment. Carlos was wringing his hands anxiously, but Jay knew that if he was needed, he would step up and defend the girls. “I know you’re upset and that therapy isn’t fun. It’s hard for you to open up about your past and spill your secrets, and I understand that. But right now, you’re not making enough progress to continue with only having therapy one day a week.” 

“I trust you.” Evie practically whispered.

Fairy Godmother sighed, but nodded and turned towards the doctors. “Is there any way we can reach some sort of compromise?” 

“Is there a better day of the week for therapy?” Dr. Bren asked. 

“Sewing club meets on Tuesday and Thursday, and her appointments are already on Wednesday. How about Monday?” 

“What if on Monday, you meet with Fairy Godmother on your own, and on Wednesday, I come with you to speak to her?” 

Evie still didn’t look happy with the arrangement, but she must have realized she was fighting a losing battle. “Whatever.” 

“Okay.” Dr. Bren smiled at them all. “You are free to go. I will see you next week.”

They all stood quickly and exited the health center together. One look at Evie told Jay that it was going to be a long night. 

\-----

As soon as Mal and Evie got back to their dorm room, Mal braced herself. She knew that some stuff was going to be brought up as soon as they went to the health center, but she wasn’t prepared for this. She didn’t even know it was a possibility for Dr. Bren to increase their therapy time. 

Mal walked in first, dropping her backpack near the end of the bed. Evie dropped hers too, then immediately went over to her desk where her sewing materials were set up. She had been working on some designs for Jane all week, and she got started on them without a word. 

“Are we going to talk about this?” she questioned after a moment of silence. 

“What is there to talk about? Everyone knows I’m fucked up and now they’re punishing me for it.” She didn’t take her eyes away from the sewing machine. 

“Don’t say that.” Mal responded. “There’s nothing wrong with you.”

“Really? Then why did I almost have a panic attack because that asshole doctor had to listen to my heartbeat? Why did I flinch as soon as he touched me? Why did Fairy Godmother have to ask if she could touch me and rub my back to try and help calm me down? Why did I need Jay so I could get through the shots? Why did I gain weight?” as soon as she said the last thing, Evie snapped her mouth shut. 

“Because you are trying to be healthy.” Mal reminded her. “Nothing matters if you starve yourself to death.”

Evie laughed dryly and so unlike her usual laugh that it sent a chill down Mal’s spine. “I would be dead if Mother saw that I’m in the triple digits.” She shook her head. “I can’t do anything right.” 

Mal yanked the material out of her hand and tossed it onto the desk. She grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at her. “You are not wrong for eating. You need food to survive, Evie. You are working on being healthy and I know it’s hard because of everything that happened with your mother, but we have to do this.”

“ _We_ don’t have to do anything.” Evie argued. “You’re not the one forcing foods down your throat, or dodging mirrors every time you pass them, or pacing around bathrooms trying to talk yourself out of puking. You don’t understand.”

“I don’t?” Mal made it a point to not ever raise her voice at Evie. She knew what she had been through and that she didn’t react well to being yelled at, but she just needed to get this out of her system. “Do you know how much I worry about you!? I stay up half the night every single night, just watching you sleep because it’s the only time you look peaceful. I fight with myself every single day on how much to help you and how much to back off and let you deal with things on your own. Sometimes, I feel like I’m watching you destroy yourself and that’s not going to happen anymore! Just like I said when we got to Auradon, you are going to eat because you don’t have any other options. If you ever want to accomplish what we came here to do, then you have to get your shit together.” 

Evie was glaring at her and Mal felt a pain through her chest. If there was anything she couldn’t stand, it was fighting with Evie. 

“You were doing so well before today. Please just keep up your progress. Prove to Dr. Bren that you don’t need that extra day of therapy. Keep eating and keep talking to Fairy Godmother and things will work out.” 

Evie still looked pissed, but a little calmer. “I don’t want to fight with you.”

“I don’t want to fight either.” Mal turned her chair around so she could kneel in front of her. She reached out and pulled Evie’s shirt up, then ran her fingers down her sides. “Baby, I can feel every one of your ribs poking out. Your arms and legs are so, so tiny. It’s not safe for you to be this small.” 

Evie’s eyes filled with tears. “I weigh 101 pounds. The last time I got to triple digits, she did this.” She pulled her pants down slightly, revealing the scar on her hipbone that Mal had seen a million times. 

She leaned forward and pressed a kiss against it. “She’s not here.” She kissed right above her belly button. “She’s not here.” She kissed the opposite hipbone. “She’s not here.” She kissed across her stomach lightly.

Mal felt Evie’s hand on her chin and she lifted it up so they could make eye contact. She leaned down and Mal met her halfway, pressing their lips together. 

“I could really use a distraction.” Evie whispered against Mal’s lips after they finally separated. 

Mal lifted her easily and carried her over to bed. “Whatever you need, baby.”


	18. Perspective

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this early chapter! I'm trying to get as much writing done as I can right now while I have free time, so hopefully I'll be able to post another chapter around Sunday/Monday. I'm currently writing Chapter 22 and just know that a lot is about to happen.
> 
> Please tell me what you think!

_“Where is your journal, Genevieve?”_

_Evie pulled out the little journal her mother had given her for her 8th birthday, the black cover still perfectly intact. She flipped to the newest page and handed it over._

_“Dislikes- your cheeks.” Her mother looked up at her with a nod. “You did make them too light, add some more blush immediately.” She continued to go down the list. “You’re right, your eyebrows are getting bushy again, it’s time for you to pluck that unibrow. Now, let’s look at the likes.” She read the opposite side of the journal. “Your hair?” her mother busted out laughing and pulled out her red pen, crossing it off. “You think your hair looks good? All I can see are the split ends.” She reached out, yanking Evie’s hair and shoving it in her face. “Cut them immediately.” She read the next part. “Your outfit? It’s clinging to your stomach.” She grabbed the material, pinching Evie’s skin as she did. She made a big ‘x’ over where Evie had written ‘outfit’._

_“You’re right, Mother. I’m sorry, I will fix it.”_

_“Yes, you will. No meals for two days.”_

_“Yes, Mother.”_

_“I don’t understand how it is so hard for you to be pretty. It comes so naturally to me and I thought it would be passed on to you, but that’s definitely not the case.” She handed her back the journal._

_\-----_

_As soon as Evie heard the knock on her bedroom door, she knew what was expected of her. She stood gracefully, smoothing down her dress and hair before going to the door._

_“Good morning, Mother.” She greeted. She pulled her black journal out of her desk drawer and flipped to the right page, then gave it to her._

_“I hope you were honest. You are always lying to yourself and it’s really doing you no favors, Genevieve.” She started to read through the list. “Dislikes- hair…yes, I agree, it’s very dry today. You must condition it immediately. Mascara…” her mother grabbed her chin, yanking her forward and studying her eyes. “Why is it clumping? Add more liquid to the tube to make it smoother. Outfit…don’t even get me started, you look like a slut. Your dress is much too short.” She looked at the other side. “Likes- lipstick…” she put a red slash through it. “No, this color is much too light for your skin tone. Shoes…” another red slash. “Wrong. They make your legs look even longer when paired with that dress, which makes you look even more like a whore. Do you want someone to touch you, Genevieve? Are you trying to beg for someone’s attention?”_

_“No, Mother. I’ll change right now.”_

_“Yes, you will. You will never go out of the house and embarrass me like this. Fix yourself now or you can say goodbye to your free time.”_

_“Yes, Mother.”_

_\-----_

_Evie made sure her journal was in her mother’s hands before she even had a chance to ask. She tried to hold back her sigh as she stared at the ground, waiting to see what she had to say today._

_“Dislikes- hair, makeup, outfit. At least you are finally being honest.” Her mother looked at the other side. “Likes- nothing.” She pulled out her red pen and wrote a note, then handed it back without another word. “Fix yourself, Genevieve. Remember, I have some errands to run and I won’t be back until tonight. Don’t get yourself into any trouble and do not embarrass me.”_

_“Yes, Mother.” She said. As soon as she left, she set the journal on her bedside table, then laid down on her bed and let out a sigh._

_It wasn’t long before she heard noise outside her window. She knew instantly what it was, and her suspicions were confirmed when she saw a head of purple hair._

_“Good morning, gorgeous girl.” Mal greeted, swinging her legs over the windowsill and climbing into her room. “What’s going on?”_

_“I’m just really tired.” Evie practically whispered. “I’m sorry, I don’t want to go out today.”_

_“That’s okay.” Mal reassured her. She came over and sat next to her on the bed. “Your mom is gone, right?”_

_“Mmhmm, she’ll be gone until tonight.” Evie scooted across the bed and cuddled into Mal’s chest. She never felt as safe as she did in her girlfriend’s arms._

_“Just get some rest, baby. I’m right here.” Mal kissed the top of her head._

_It didn’t take long before Evie was asleep. Mal decided to get comfortable and took off her jacket. She intended to put it on the table next to the bed, but it ended up falling, bringing a black journal to the ground with it. It opened up as it clattered to the floor._

_Mal carefully moved out from under Evie so she could pick up the journal and jacket. She was confused when she saw what was written on the page the book had opened to._

_There was a line down the middle of the page with the word “dislikes” written on the left, and “likes” on the right. Under “dislikes”, she noticed the words eyeshadow, pants, and ears written in Evie’s perfect handwriting. Under “likes”, she saw Evie had written hair and shirt, but both words were crossed out in red pen. Unfamiliar handwriting wrote “greasy” next to hair, and “clinging to your skin” next to shirt._

_She continued to flip through the pages, seeing that every time Evie had written something she liked, the other handwriting had a comment on why it wasn’t good enough. It only took her about two pages to realize it was the Evil Queen who was writing in red._

_Mal finally got to the newest page, which said ‘dislikes- hair, makeup, and outfit’ and ‘likes- nothing’. In red handwriting, the words ‘I am proud you finally realized there is nothing special about you. Work harder and maybe one day, you can be pretty’ were written._

_She felt her skin heat up as she re-read the words over and over again. Did EQ really make Evie write things she liked and disliked about herself, just so she could critique what she said and bring her down?_

_Mal stood, shaking Evie until she woke up. The blue haired girl woke up in confusion._

_“What the fuck is this?” Mal demanded, tossing the journal onto the bed next to her._

_“Why are you going through my stuff?” Evie asked defensively, grabbing the journal and holding it against her chest._

_“I swear to fucking God, I’m going to murder her with my bare hands.” Mal spat through clenched teeth. “Evie, look at me right now.” She reluctantly made eye contact. “What she says doesn’t matter, okay? You are fucking perfect, baby girl.”_

_Evie scoffed. “Yeah right. There’s always something wrong. No matter how hard I try, nothing ever turns out perfect.”_

_“That’s because you are given unrealistically high expectations, and no matter what you do, it’s never going to be good enough. Baby, your mother is sick in her head. She gets enjoyment out of hurting you and that’s why she does things like this.” Mal gently cradled Evie’s face in her hands. “How long has this been going on?”_

_“Every single day since my 8th birthday.” She admitted._

_“Six years?” Mal pulled her into her chest, planting little kisses across her face and hair. “Don’t believe anything in that book.”_

_“But it’s true.”_

_Mal moved away from her, going over to her bag that she had dropped near the window. She pulled out her sketch book and scribbled words on to the page, her tongue poking out in concentration. Once she finished, she ripped it out and went over to Evie, sitting next to her and handing her the paper._

_“Read it out loud.”_

_“Dislikes- listening to your mother”. Evie read, her voice trembling. “Likes- 1. Your intelligence, 2. Your laugh, 3. Your kind heart, 4. Your beautiful voice, 5. How talented you are at designing, 6. Your gorgeous fucking face, 7. Your long, silky hair, 8. Your bright, happy eyes, 9. Your smile and lips, 10. How much you love me, and how you’ve made me believe I’m worth loving.” Evie looked up at her with tears shining in her eyes._

_“Every time she writes something in that journal, I want you to remember this list. You are literally flawless, E.”_

_Evie crawled across the bed until she could rest their foreheads together. “You have my entire heart, my love.”_

_“And you have mine, my princess.”_

\-----

Evie understood. It may not seem like it, but she really, truly did. In order to survive, your body needs nourishment. That nourishment comes from food and water. 

While she knew that information, she also knew that with eating came weight gain. If you ate too much, the number on the scale would rise and rise until you were forced to starve, beaten, locked up, or given to a new man who had something to offer your mother. 

It had been a while since she saw Grimhilde, but those habits were hard to break. 

Mal had spent years now trying to get her to eat, but she could never fully understand what Evie was going through. Everyone thought it was easy to just forget the habits her mother had beaten into her head since day one. 

The weekend was tough, but she managed to eat two meals each day. When Monday rolled around, she tried, she really did, but it was hard. It felt like she had her mother whispering in her ear, reminding her of all the reasons why she shouldn’t eat. 

When it was time for Goodness class, the teens were surprised to see Ben was sitting in the classroom. There was a large TV set up and he was smiling. 

“I have a surprise for you all.” He announced, the smile never leaving his face. “Go ahead, FG.”

The headmistress pressed a button on a remote and the TV switched on. Suddenly, they saw their parents’ faces. 

Evie felt as if someone had punched her in the stomach. She wanted to throw up when her eyes landed on her mother. It had been so long since she had seen her and she hoped it would be much longer before she ever had to look at her again. 

She looked at her friends. Mal looked confused and angry, her eyes flying around the room as she tried to figure out who was responsible for this. Carlos was trembling and looking so much smaller all of a sudden. Evie hadn’t realized how much he had opened up since they came to Auradon until that moment. Jay was frowning, but his hands were shaking. 

“I know you were all feeling a little homesick the other day, and I realized that if I was in a new place for a month, I would probably miss home too. So I arranged for you to be able to talk to your parents!” Ben told them, obviously not reading their facial expressions. 

Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos slipped back into the careful masks that they wore when they arrived in Auradon. They all walked slowly towards the screen, hands by their sides and faces carefully kept blank. 

Their parents all spoke at once and Evie suddenly felt like she was trapped in a nightmare. Auradon was supposed to be safe. They were supposed to never see their parents again. 

“Hello, Mal.” Maleficent greeted loudly, stopping all the rest of the chatter. Evie felt Mal tense beside her and she wanted to hold her hand, but she knew it would hurt more than it would help. 

“Mother.” Mal said back, her voice coming off as dry and uninterested. Evie silently praised her in her head; she didn’t think her voice would sound that strong. 

Evie glanced over at Ben and Fairy Godmother. They both looked sort of confused, like they were finally realizing that this wasn’t a good idea.

“Carlos!” Cruella stepped closer to the screen, blocking everyone else from view. “How are you, my sweet puppy? Have you been running from the dogs?” Carlos took a half step back, moving slightly out of her view. 

“Jay, my boy!” Jafar shouted with a smile. Jay’s hands clenched into fists. 

“Genevieve.” Her mother snapped, drawing Evie’s attention instantly. It was strange that her body instinctively straightened up, standing nice and tall and pushing out her chest.

“Hello, Mother.” Her voice didn’t waiver and she congratulated herself, knowing that was probably the only positive thing that would happen today. 

The four adults all started to speak at once again, and then they were fighting about whose turn it was to speak. Maleficent obviously won the battle- flashing her green eyes was enough to silence the others. 

“How is Auradon, Mal?” she questioned. 

“It’s good.” 

“Are you making progress?” 

Evie was suddenly reminded of Maleficent’s master plan, which was the entire reason they had been allowed to come to Auradon. They were supposed to get the wand, lower the barrier, and then Maleficent would take over Auradon. 

As soon as they stepped foot off the Isle, they never spoke about it again. If there was one thing they were going to avoid, it was helping their parents escape from behind the barrier. 

“Yes, I’m making progress in school.” Mal said, trying to cover up the true meaning behind her mother’s words. Evie understood; there was no reason to make FG or Ben suspicious of them when they weren’t even planning on carrying out Maleficent’s evil plan. 

“How much longer until your grades are up?” Maleficent asked, understanding the code. 

“Soon.” Mal replied simply. Luckily for her girlfriend, Mal and Maleficent had never had a relationship that required much talking. They both worked through action. 

“You better not disappoint me, Mal.” The ‘or else’ was already implied. 

Unfortunately, that also meant that it was time for one of the other adults to talk. Cruella stepped forward. 

Evie listened to her ramble and even though she wasn’t standing next to Carlos, she could guess what he looked like. His mother had an obvious mental illness, which led to Carlos receiving a lot of abuse. Though she was talking about loving and missing him, Evie knew the truth. 

She looked at the screen, feeling as if her mother was staring into her soul. She had forgotten how intense her gaze was and her skin felt like it was crawling. 

“Well, if it isn’t my daughter.” Finally, it was Grimhilde’s turn to talk. “It’s been so long since I’ve seen you. You disappear for a year and then suddenly pop back up in time to go to Auradon?” She faked a gasp. “And you didn’t even say goodbye.” 

“There wasn’t time.” Evie answered, hoping to end the conversation as quickly as possible. 

“No time? Do you even understand what you have put me through, you ungrateful, spoiled brat? Look at you, standing there as if you’ve done nothing wrong. It’s obvious that you need me, Genevieve. Your hair is atrocious, and I can even see your skin glistening from here. And is that extra weight you’ve put on?” she laughed, the sound ringing in Evie’s ears. “Of course it is, you never could control yourself. Not around food, and certainly not around men. Tell me, have you managed to snag yourself a prince yet?” Evie waited for the verbal assault to end. “Answer me, girl!” 

“No, Mother.”

“No…?”

“No, I haven’t found a prince.” 

“Even your clothes are terrible. Shouldn’t there be better materials there? If you don’t have a prince, then you should have plenty of time to sew. Are you making yourself useful? Are you offering to cook and clean and design? Are you using the skills I gave you?” 

Evie didn’t know what to say. She stumbled over her words, trying to force out a response. 

Grimhilde laughed. “Listen to you, you don’t even know how to speak anymore. Face the facts, child. You need me. You are failing in a world without me. Too bad you’re not pretty, I’m sure that would help score you some extra points in the land of princes and princesses.” She paused for a second and based on her evil smirk, Evie knew that she wouldn’t like what came next. “I hope you haven’t forgotten your lessons, Genevieve. I know how you struggle with temptation, and I would hate to hear that you are still messing around with that girl. When we see each other again, I think you’ll need an extra special lesson. Quinton says hello, by the way.” 

That was the final punch Evie needed. She felt physically ill and if this conversation didn’t end in the next minute, she was going to vomit right here in front of everyone. 

Jafar was last, questioning Jay about what he had been able to get his hands on. Jay attempted to tell him about Tourney, but his father immediately shut that down, saying that he had other much more valuable talents (aka stealing) that he should be practicing. 

Mal was the one to finally press the button on the TV, ending the conversation. Deafening silence filled the room as Ben and Fairy Godmother stared at the teenagers. 

When Evie let out the breath she was holding, it came out as a sob. Mal instantly turned towards her and put her arms around her, pulling her close. Evie wrapped her arms around Mal’s neck and buried her face in her shoulder. She felt strong arms around one side of her and realized it was Jay, and then Carlos went to the other side, both of the boys making sure they were hugging both Evie and Mal. The four of them stood like that for a while, just shaking and breathing and trying to come to terms with the fact that no matter how much better Auradon got, their parents were still out there waiting for them.

“I’m gonna throw up.” Evie whimpered. As hard as she had tried to hold it in, she knew she couldn’t do it anymore. 

“No.” Mal responded, giving her a little space. “You’re okay, Princess. Don’t listen to what she said.” 

Carlos must have realized that she couldn’t be talked out of it. He returned to her side with a trash can, holding it out just as Evie felt the bile rising up her throat. She took the can and leaned into it, throwing up the contents of her stomach. 

“Sit.” He said gently, wrapping an arm around her to guide her to the floor. Evie sat on the floor of the classroom, her head still in the trash can as she threw up again. Carlos was right next to her, carefully holding her hair back. 

As soon as she finished, Jay was there, kneeling beside her with a tissue to wipe her mouth and a bottle of water. She used both and then looked around. Ben and Fairy Godmother were standing next to them, still silent. Mal had her arms across her chest and was looking anywhere but at Evie. 

“I’m sorry.” She choked out, feeling the tears start to fill her eyes. “M, please. I had to.” 

“I know.” Mal finally said with a sigh. She came over and sat across from her. “I’m sorry, baby. I know.” She pulled her into her arms. Evie just closed her eyes and relaxed into her, letting all of her thoughts drift away as she focused only on Mal. 

\-----

Ben was in shock. He didn’t know what to say or what to do. His hands were sweaty, his stomach hurt, and he just kept staring at the four broken kids sitting on the classroom floor. 

How could he have been so stupid to believe that villains actually loved their children? It was obvious after listening to the way each parent spoke to their child that they didn’t matter to them. The coldness in Maleficent’s tone, the insults the Evil Queen spat, the anger in Jafar’s stance, and the crazed look in Cruella’s eyes would haunt him for the rest of his life. 

He stood frozen next to Fairy Godmother. He may be the future king, but he didn’t know how to react and hoped that the headmistress would take the first step. When the VKs stood and walked out of the room, neither of them made a move to stop them. 

“What just happened?” he questioned softly. 

“I think we underestimated the villains.” Fairy Godmother told him. She turned to look at him and he must have given something away, because she smiled sadly. “Sit down, Ben.” 

They sat down across from each other. He looked up at her. “I don’t understand.” 

“I know that you want to do the right thing. You understand that the Isle of the Lost is not a place for children to live. But you have to know that these children have traumatic pasts, Ben. The four you chose are strong and they still have some fight left in them, but I don’t think they will all be like this. Sometimes, the burden is too much to bear.” 

“So you’re saying I shouldn’t bring over any more children?”

“That’s not what I’m saying at all. Auradon needs to be better prepared to deal with them, and we need to understand what we are getting ourselves into. No more blindly choosing random children just because their parents are the worst of the worst. We need to know what the kids have been through so we know how to help them.” 

“I get that, but right now, I’m not worried about the other kids. I’m worried about Mal and Evie and Jay and Carlos. The way their parents spoke to them…”

“It’s terrible.” Fairy Godmother agreed. 

“What if we can get some information out of that?” Ben suggested. “We heard what their parents said and how they reacted. Maybe we can use that to figure out what our next steps should be to help them.”

The older woman smiled. “Now you are thinking like a King. Alright, let’s think this through.” 

“When Carlos first came to Auradon, Dr. Williams noticed bruises in different stages of healing. After seeing how he practically hid behind Jay when his mom spoke, I think it’s safe to assume that his mother was abusing him.” 

Fairy Godmother nodded. “We know he came here severely underweight, and part of that may be from lack of food on the Isle, but it seems like it could be a possibility that his mother also withheld food as a form of control. Even knowing this information, I would say Carlos is doing pretty well. He is the quietest of the group, but he is eating and passing classes and playing a sport, so he is doing okay.”

“Maleficent is terrifying.” Ben commented. “She didn’t even have to say anything horrible, all you have to do is look at her. Mal might not have been crying or flinching, but you could tell how tense she was.” 

“I don’t think we’ve even begun to crack Mal’s shell.” Fairy Godmother admitted. “We know Maleficent is in charge of the Isle, so who knows what she has put Mal through?” 

“Do you think Mal is scared of her?” 

“I think she is too smart not to be.” Fairy Godmother said. Ben nodded his head in agreement.

“Dr. Williams told me that when Jay came to Auradon, he had bruising on his back, like he was hit with a whip.” Ben shuddered; he had had nightmares about that. “Even in Jafar’s stance you could tell that he is an angry person.” 

“He does seem volatile. Just like Carlos, I wouldn’t be surprised if Jay’s parent is the one abusing him. To be honest, I would almost guarantee that Mal and Evie have been abused by their mothers too.” 

Ben nodded. He felt sick to his stomach, but he knew it was true. “What are your thoughts on Evie?” he had been told that Evie was having her therapy appointments now with Fairy Godmother instead of Dr. Bren, so he knew she had a lot more insight on the girl, though he wasn’t sure what she would be willing to tell him. 

“She’s been through a lot, and it’s obvious that her mother is the root to many of her problems.” Fairy Godmother stated vaguely. 

Ben appreciated that she valued Evie’s privacy, but he still figured he would offer his own observations and opinions. 

“She’s doesn’t eat.” He said. “I’ve been trying to have at least one meal a day with them to help get to know them. Evie rarely talks during meals, she never gets food on her own, she usually only has one or two things on her plate and always in tiny portions, and Mal is constantly whispering to her while she eats. After hearing the Evil Queen say that she’s put on weight and that she can’t control herself around food, I wonder if maybe Evie has some type of eating disorder.” 

“It could be possible.” Fairy Godmother mused. 

“But I was confused about some of the other stuff she said, like how Evie can’t control herself around men and how she kept saying she needed to find a prince. Did you hear her comment too about how she would hate to hear that Evie’s still messing around with ‘that girl’? What do you think that means?” 

“I am assuming Mal.” FG said. “I get the impression that the Evil Queen doesn’t approve of her daughter’s sexual preferences.” She paused for a second, as if she was hesitating. Ben waited to see what she would reveal. “I wonder what she meant when she said Evie disappeared for a year and then popped back up in time to go to Auradon without saying goodbye. When you sent the letters to the children, were you told that Evie wasn’t living with her mother?” 

“All of the letters were intercepted by Maleficent’s crew. She was the one who distributed them to the children.” Ben frowned. “So then where was Evie for the year before she came to Auradon? And who is Quinton?” he had noticed that as soon as the Evil Queen said that name, Evie turned multiple shades paler. 

“Like I said, we still have so much to figure out about them.” Fairy Godmother stated. She sighed. “Just when I finally thought we were making a little progress, they’re going to face set-backs again.” 

Ben shook his head. “Maybe not. Maybe we can still fix this.” He grabbed his backpack and slung it over his shoulder. “I’m going to talk to them.” 

“That might not be such a good idea, Ben.” 

“I need them to know that I’m sorry.” He left the room without another word and practically ran towards the dorms. He made his way to the girls’ room and knocked, then waited patiently for someone to answer. 

Jay was the one who opened the door, immediately frowning when he saw him. Ben didn’t take it personally. 

“Hello, Jay.” He greeted, trying to catch his breath. “Is it okay if I come in?” 

“We’re busy.” 

“Please.” Ben pleaded. 

“Let him in.” He heard Mal call out from within the room. Jay sighed, but stepped to the side so Ben could enter. 

Ben scanned his eyes over the room. Mal and Carlos were sitting next to each other on one of the beds, and there was an open space on Mal’s other side that Jay went over and filled. Evie was laying between Mal’s legs, her head resting on her chest with Mal’s arms wrapped tightly around her. 

“I just wanted to apologize.” Ben said. “I didn’t realize how…strained… your relationship with your parents is. I would never do something intentionally to hurt you.”

“We’re fine.” Mal told him. 

“Next time, ask us.” Jay added. 

“I’m sorry, I should have thought of that. You all just seemed so upset about being off the Isle for a month and I wanted to do something to make you feel better.” 

“Our parents weren’t the best choice.” Carlos said. 

“I can see that now. Is there anything else I can do to help you feel better?” 

Ben was surprised when Evie sat up and looked at him. “There is one thing.”

“Name it.” He agreed eagerly. They had never asked him for anything (besides changing their schedules), so he was happy to comply. 

“Consider expanding the VK Exchange Program. I know you probably can’t bring more people over now, but don’t forget about them, okay?” 

“I won’t. Like you said, Auradon wants to see proof from the four of you that you can be accepted into our society, and then as soon as that happens, I plan on bringing over more kids. I would love if you all could help me with that.” 

Evie smiled brightly, and Ben saw the other three smiling too. He was happy he had made them happy. “Of course, Prince Ben.” She said sweetly. 

“We’ll see you tomorrow.” Mal stated, ending their conversation. 

“See you then. I’m glad you’re alright.” He walked out of the room with a smile on his face. He was so happy that the four them were okay and he truly believed they wouldn’t let this be a setback. 

\-----

As soon as Ben walked out of the room, Evie felt hands on her cheeks. Mal pulled her over and pressed their lips together. 

“You’re a fucking genius!” Mal praised, pressing a kiss to her cheek, and then another to her lips. Evie couldn’t help but giggle. 

“Well played, Princess.” Jay agreed. 

“Alright, sounds like our plan is about to be set into motion.” As Carlos spoke, the other three nodded. 

“We need to continue playing it cool. The conversation with our parents definitely made a chink in our armor, especially since FG and Ben saw our reactions.” Mal reminded the others. “Tomorrow, we go back to class and we act like nothing happened. We go to our therapy appointments, keep playing sports, and get good grades. As long as we’re in good standing with the Auradonians, they’ll think we are fitting in here. That’s exactly what we need so that Ben will be able to continue the program. As soon as he’s given the okay to bring over more kids, we’ll get in there and help.” 

“So we need to get closer to the others.” Jay picked up. “Keep hanging out with Ben, Audrey, Lonnie, and Doug. Even Jane would be useful so she can report back to her mom that we’re doing well. E, you’ve got the advantage of speaking with Fairy Godmother.”

“Is that really an advantage though?” Mal questioned. 

“Yes.” Carlos said. “You can spin your stories to her however you want, and as long as she thinks you’re making progress, she’ll give a good report to Dr. Bren.” 

“You want me to lie?” Evie clarified. She had been honest with Fairy Godmother so far, and while she didn’t know if it was ‘fixing’ her, she did feel better afterwards. 

“No.” Mal interrupted. “Keep telling the truth, or stay as close to it as possible so we don’t have to keep track of different stories.” She smiled. “Who knew that talking to our parents would jumpstart our plan?”

“It’s time to get it rolling.” Evie said. “We’ve waited long enough. We’re established here, they know we’re not violent. Maybe we can add in an extra part to the plan where we murder our parents after we’re successful.”

“I could get behind that.” Jay nodded. 

“Me too.” Carlos agreed. 

“We’ll talk about that when we get there.” Mal interrupted. “For now, stick to the plan. That means both of you,” she gave Evie and Carlos pointed looks, “need to go to your therapy appointments today.”

“No.” they both groaned. 

“Yes.” Mal kissed Evie’s forehead, then Carlos’s. “We’re okay. We’re safe. We’ve got this.” 

As Evie looked at each member of their crew, she believed it.


	19. Uncovering Secrets

Ever since they agreed it was time to get their plan rolling, Evie felt stronger. She had a purpose to keep moving and keep working. She found herself repeating this to herself over and over again- on Monday night when she felt like throwing up, she reminded herself. On Tuesday, when she was completely overwhelmed by history class and all the information that she couldn’t fully comprehend, she reminded herself. On Tuesday night when she was exhausted, she cuddled up to Mal and reminded herself. 

Now, it was Wednesday. One month and five days since they arrived in Auradon. She winced at the amount of time that had passed. She knew that a month on the Isle was much harsher than a month in Auradon, and she wondered what all had changed.

As Evie walked to breakfast with Mal and the boys, she felt her stomach start to bubble up. She took a deep breath, cursing herself internally. She reminded herself of why she was fighting and why this plan was so important, but it didn’t help. With every step closer to the cafeteria, she felt like she was drowning. 

Then, Mal was there. Her fierce, beautiful Mal who realized something was wrong immediately. Evie cuddled against her, letting Mal hug her close and run her fingers through her hair. 

“You’ve got this, pretty baby.” Mal whispered.

Evie raised an eyebrow at the nickname. “That’s a new one.”

“Shut up.” The purple haired girl gave her a quick kiss. “Are you okay?” 

“I don’t know. My stomach hurts.” 

“How are you feeling? What brought this on?” 

Evie shrugged. “Breakfast time? I don’t know. It was just like all of a sudden, my body realized it was time to eat and reacted badly.” 

“You still need to try, okay?” Mal kissed her cheek and squeezed her hand, then pulled her towards the breakfast line. 

Evie allowed Mal to choose her breakfast, trying to hold in her grimace at the sight of all the food. Mal put a cup of fruit on her tray, and then reached for a bowl of yogurt. 

“No yogurt.” Evie pleaded. 

“E, just fruit won’t give you enough energy for the day. You need that energy to keep you moving.” 

She pouted, but Mal didn’t seem to care and just put the yogurt on her tray anyway. After they were both finished, they walked over to what had become their usual table. 

They took their seats across from Jay and Carlos. Doug came over and sat on Carlos’s other side, then Audrey on Evie’s side, Lonnie on Mal’s side, and Ben took the last seat next to Jay and across from Audrey. 

Mal’s fingers were digging into Evie’s thigh, reminding her that she needed to take a bite of her food. She sighed and picked up her fork, stabbing it into a strawberry and shoving it into her mouth. She chewed slowly, grimacing at the feeling. She loved the taste of strawberries, but right now, she couldn’t handle it. 

A sharp kick under the table made her flinch. She looked up, seeing Jay looking at her. He nodded towards her food, then yelped loudly as the table clattered. Evie knew immediately that Mal had kicked him in retaliation for him kicking Evie. 

Mal leaned over and pressed a gentle kiss against her cheek. “Please, baby.” She whispered into her ear. 

Evie wanted nothing more than to throw up, but she couldn’t disappoint Mal. She fought back the urge to groan and ate another strawberry, and then another. After she finished chewing, she glanced up, seeing that Ben’s eyes were locked on her. She had noticed him staring at her a lot during meal times, but she wasn’t sure why. 

Before she had the chance to say anything, the bell rang. Evie heard a frustrated sigh next to her and turned towards Mal, who looked disappointed. She felt guilt settle into her stomach. 

“M…” she started. 

“Let’s just go to class.” Mal stood, grabbing her tray and walking towards the garbage. Normally she waited for Evie, but today she didn’t bother. 

Evie felt her stomach rolling and clenching. Mal was mad at her, and she hated when Mal was mad. How could she make it better? What could she do to get back on her good side? 

After they threw their garbage away, Evie walked next to her. Normally, Mal would grab her hand or kiss her forehead or put her arm around her waist. But today, she didn’t even look in her direction.

“M, please…” she said, reaching out to grab her hand. 

“For this to work, you have to at least try, Evie. You didn’t even try to eat today.” 

“I’m sorry, I…”

“No.” Mal interrupted. “I don’t want to hear your apologies. Show me that you can do better, and then maybe I’ll believe that you actually care about your health.” 

She walked further ahead, leaving Evie feeling alone. A hand gently grasped hers and she knew without looking that it was Carlos. When they got into their first class, Evie sat next to him, while Jay took the seat next to Mal. 

On a normal day, after English class ended, they would all meet in the hallway and say goodbye as Mal went to art and the other three went to study hall. Today, things were different. Mal stormed off without even a glance towards them. 

“What’s her problem?” Jay questioned. 

“She’s mad because I barely ate.” Evie admitted. 

“What’s new?” he asked sarcastically, earning a dirty look from Carlos. “What? I’m just saying that it’s normal for E to not eat a lot, so why should Mal be mad?” 

Evie didn’t realize that her friends paid so much attention to her eating habits. She didn’t understand why they let her choices bother them so much. 

“I wouldn’t worry too much about it, E.” Carlos said softly. “You know Mal will come around.” 

Evie just bit her lip in worry, feeling her entire stomach flip. She was going to throw up. Carlos studied her in concern, obviously noticing the change. She turned and walked towards the bathroom, hearing the boys’ footsteps following behind her. 

She ran into the bathroom, collapsing in front of the toilet just as the bell rang. She emptied her stomach without even having to stick her fingers down her throat. 

She felt one of the boys pulling her hair away from her face and a hand rubbing her back, but she couldn’t get up yet. She leaned over and threw up again. 

After she was finished, Evie felt frustrated. Normally, there was a little relief after she threw up, but right now she only felt guilty. She couldn’t believe she had been so weak. 

If Mal was pissed before, she would be absolutely furious now. 

That thought made her whimper. She sat up slowly, turning to face the boys. She expected to see looks of disgust, but they just looked sad. 

“I’m sorry.” She whispered as Carlos let go of her hair. “I didn’t want to. I’m sorry.” 

“Shhh, calm down.” Carlos grabbed her hands. “You’re okay, Eves. Take some deep breaths.” He pulled her into his chest. 

“Mal is gonna be mad.” She cried into the fabric of his shirt. 

“It’s going to be okay.” He just held her and stroked her hair. Evie closed her eyes and focused on regulating her breathing. She needed to get up off the bathroom floor before she threw up again. 

After a couple minutes, she was calm enough to stand. She got up and as soon as Carlos stood, she gave him a hug. “Thank you.” 

Evie went over to the mirror and stared at her reflection. She was pale, her eyes and cheeks were red, and there were obvious tear tracks. She pulled out her makeup from her purse and got to work to try and cover them up. Then, she took a drink of water and ate a mint to rid herself of the taste of vomit. 

“Ready?” Jay asked from where he was leaning against the wall. 

“I guess.” 

The three of them exited the bathroom together. They were supposed to be at study hall, but since they were already late, they decided to just sit down in one of the various seating areas spread around the school.

Instead of talking to the boys, Evie pulled out the book they were assigned for English and started to read. Her mind kept drifting, but she tried her best to really focus. By the time the bell rang, her head felt like it was spinning. 

Math class was next and when they walked in, Mal didn’t even look at her. Evie bit her lip anxiously and tried to decide if she should still sit next to her. Luckily, Jay made the decision for her when he grabbed her hand and pulled her over to a different set of desks, leaving Carlos to sit by Mal. 

“Come on, Princess. I need your help with this.” 

Evie appreciated him trying to distract her, and it actually did work. She was able to sit and listen to Mr. Reynolds, partly because she knew that they were starting a new concept and Jay would need help with it later, and partly because she didn’t want Mr. Reynolds to call her out and put her in detention. 

She still wasn’t feeling great when it was time for Goodness class. Evie stayed next to Jay and kept her eyes glued to the floor, not wanting to be rejected by Mal again. 

Mal went to her normal seat and Evie knew it was best to follow. Goodness class was a lot smaller than the rest of their classes, so it would be obvious to Fairy Godmother if they moved around. She sat in her usual seat and immediately rubbed her temples. 

“Are you okay?” Mal asked softly.

“No.” Evie said flatly. Her hands were shaking, so she clasped them together in her lap, hoping that Mal wouldn’t see. 

“Children.” Fairy Godmother greeted when she walked into the room. It was a lot less cheery than her usual greeting, and Evie couldn’t help but feel like they were about to get in trouble. “Evie, Jay, Carlos, why did I get a message saying that the three of you weren’t in 2nd period?” 

Evie felt her throat close up as she struggled to come up with a response. On the Isle, she was one of the best liars. Why did she have such a hard time doing it in Auradon? 

“Carlos had a headache.” Jay commented, turning all attention on him. “Evie and I stayed with him. We did our work at one of the sitting areas, but he didn’t want to go around a lot of people since his head was hurting.” 

Fairy Godmother didn’t look convinced, and as if that wasn’t bad enough, Mal was staring at her. Evie knew that Mal hated to not know what was going on with her crew, and the fact that they were being questioned about their whereabouts and she didn’t know the truth was probably killing her. 

Luckily, FG didn’t call him on the lie. “We’re going to use the beginning half of class as a study hall. Go ahead and pull out some work you need to get done.”

Evie reached into her backpack and started to pull out her chemistry book. She felt suddenly like another person was staring at her and when she looked up, she saw Fairy Godmother standing right in front of her. 

“May I talk to you for a moment, dear?” 

“Sure.” Evie said quietly. She laid her book down on the table carefully and followed FG out into the hallway.

Evie didn’t like this. She knew that FG had something serious to say because otherwise, she wouldn’t have separated her from her friends. Did she know that she threw up? Did she know that Mal wasn’t talking to her right now?

She felt her breath catch in her throat. Did she find out her secrets from the Isle? 

“Evie, take a seat please.” Fairy Godmother said. There was a seating area right outside the classroom and the older woman sat down, motioning for the teen to sit next to her. Evie was hesitant, but she sat, making sure to keep some distance between them. “I wanted to talk to you about something. I can tell how upset you are right now, are you okay?” 

She cursed herself for being so obvious. She pinched her leg, trying to calm down. “I’m okay. What did you want to talk about?” 

“I have some concerns.” FG admitted. “I don’t know how else to really approach this, so I’m just going to say it. I’m worried about your eating habits.” 

Evie wished a hole would open up in the ground and swallow her. She dug her nails into her thigh. She wanted to get up and run. “Why?” 

“For starters, you are very underweight, and you have not gained very much weight in the past month. Even before this, I was concerned with how small you are. Others have come to me and expressed that they notice you don’t eat very much. But the worst part was when I overheard the things your mother was saying to you during that video call.” 

Just like that, Evie found her strength. She couldn’t afford to be weak right now. She couldn’t expose herself to Fairy Godmother. Even if Mal was mad at her, and she had thrown up, and her stomach was still aching, she couldn’t let Fairy Godmother know her secrets. She took a deep breath and sat up straighter, letting a casual smile grace her features. 

“Thank you for your concern, FG, but I’m okay. I’m just a very picky eater, so I don’t really eat a lot.” 

“Evie, sweetheart, you told me the other day that you trust me. Is that still true?” 

She nodded hesitantly. “Yes.” 

“Then I need to hear the truth. Your mother told you that you had put on extra weight, and that you can’t control yourself around food. Has she always spoken to you this way?” 

She kept her smile on her face, hoping that it didn’t look like a grimace. “I thought we already established that none of the adults on the Isle are exactly Parent of the Year material.” 

Fairy Godmother was starting to look flustered. “Evie…”

“I don’t know what you want me to say. Why does it matter that I’m underweight? So are Mal and Carlos, but no one talks to them about it. Like I said, I’m picky and I don’t like a lot of foods. Regardless of that, on the Isle we only got Auradon’s scraps, so even if I liked the food it’s not like I could have had a lot of it.” She saw FG flinch slightly at her implication. “My mother will say anything to put me down, that’s nothing new. It’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal when it’s affecting your health. You are 16 years old and you only weigh 101 pounds. For your height, you should be at least ten pounds heavier, and that would still put you on the smaller side.” 

Evie felt her stomach roll again. Ten more pounds? There was no way she could let herself gain ten more pounds.

“What if I ask your friends about this?” FG wondered. “Would they agree that you’re healthy?” she stared straight into Evie’s eyes and tilted her head slightly. “Would Mal agree?” 

The question caught her off guard and Evie didn’t know how to respond. She was pretty sure that with how fed up Mal was right now, she would probably rat her out. 

The silence must have been enough of an answer because Fairy Godmother nodded her head. “This is something that we are going to have to talk more about in therapy. If it’s not an issue, then great, we’ll move past it quickly. But if it is, I want you to be able to receive the help you need. I know you don’t want to hear this, but I’m going to have to bring Dr. Bren in on this because I am not qualified to give advice on eating disorders.” 

Evie visibly flinched at the term. She instantly regretted it, knowing that she just gave herself away. How could she have been so stupid? 

“You may go back into class. I know you might not like this, but I’m doing it because I care about you, not because I want to punish you.” She stood. “I’m giving you all the last half of class to work on your own. I’ll see you at therapy.” FG turned and walked away. 

Evie felt her eyes well up with tears as she bit down on her lip. She didn’t want to go back into the classroom and face Mal, but she couldn’t sit out in the hallway and cry either. 

She reluctantly stood and went into the room. She felt her sadness subsiding as anger took its place. As soon as she opened the door, three heads turned towards her. When they realized FG wasn’t coming in, they all jumped up. Mal got to her first. 

“What happened? What did she want?”

“Oh, now you care?” she said angrily. She brushed past her and started to pace back and forth. 

“No matter how much you frustrate me, I always care about what’s going on with you.” Mal argued back. 

“You don’t need to be frustrated. I’m allowed to make my own choices.” 

“Like I’ve told you a million times before, we are a team, Evie. Your choices affect my life, just like my choices affect yours. I don’t know why you don’t understand that.”

“Because what I do is none of your business!” 

“It is when you could get hurt!” Mal finally shouted. Evie recoiled slightly; Mal rarely yelled at her, so she didn’t know how to react to that. 

Evie ran her hands through her hair, pulling at the roots. “I don’t know when it became everyone’s fucking business if I’m eating or not.” 

“That’s what FG wanted to talk about?” Carlos figured out quickly, earning a glare from the blue haired girl. “What did she say?” 

“She’s concerned that I haven’t gained enough weight, and after hearing my mother’s comments and having people tell her I’m not eating, she wants to talk about it in therapy with Dr. Bren.” Evie finally admitted.

“Who told her you’re not eating?” Jay demanded. 

“I guarantee it was Ben.” Evie said as she continued to pace. “Every time he eats with us, he’s always staring at me. Even this morning, he was watching me during breakfast.” 

“I’ve noticed that.” Carlos agreed. 

“So what should I do now? Should I say something to him?” 

“I don’t think you should.” Mal said. 

Evie whipped around to face her. “ _What_? A person who is basically a stranger to me just invaded my privacy and betrayed me to Fairy Godmother. The fact that these Auradon kids think they can get away with something like that is bullshit. But you of all people don’t think I should say something?” 

“Okay, first off, you need to calm down.” Mal told her. Evie opened her mouth to respond, but Mal came over to her and wrapped her arms around her, pulling her tightly against her chest. “I know that you’re upset with how I was acting this morning, and I’m sorry. I know that you can’t always help how you’re feeling with food, and I shouldn’t punish you for it by ignoring you. Princess, you’re practically bouncing right now, and what I know about you tells me that even though you’re angry, it’s more from being anxious and upset. Am I right?” 

Evie bit her lip. She could admit that she was letting her anger take the place of all the other uncomfortable feelings going on in her body. She just sighed and nodded her head, then leaned into Mal slightly. 

Mal hugged her even tighter. “You know that I am the first person who will always stand up and defend you. I’m not happy at all with the fact that Ben went to FG, and I completely agree with you that Ben was the one to say something because I’ve seen him watching you too.” 

“But…” Evie said, knowing there was a catch here somewhere. 

“I want you to be healthy.” Mal told her, her hands leaving her waist and moving up to cup her cheeks. “Baby, I don’t know what to say or do to make you better, but you have got to start eating.” She kissed her forehead. “Where were you during second period?” 

The guilt settled back in Evie’s stomach. “I threw up.” She whispered in shame. 

“Thought so.” Mal kissed her forehead, then her cheeks, and then the tip of her nose. She rested their foreheads together. “I hate that people are prying into your life, but I don’t know how to help you. If this whole incident opens up the conversation with FG and Dr. Bren and they can figure out a way to help you, then I’ll be happy with that.” 

Evie tried to move away from her, but Mal reacted quickly, putting her arms around her waist again and pulling her close. Evie at least put some distance between their faces. “I’m not talking to Dr. Bren.” 

“Babe, I…”

“No. She couldn’t care less about me. What am I supposed to do if she tells me they’re going to send me back to the Isle?”

Mal frowned. “Why would she say that?”

“Because I’m not perfect. Something is wrong with me and they’re going to figure that out and send me back, and then you guys will still be here and I’ll be by myself and…” she felt her breathing start to quicken.

“Whoa, whoa, whoa.” Jay came over. “I’m going to interrupt you right there. Do you actually think we would let them send you back by yourself?”

“If they did try and send you back, which they won’t, we would go with you.” Carlos agreed. 

“We would kill anyone in our way.” Mal chimed in. “You will never be away from me, baby girl. Do you understand that?” she kissed her, long and slow, ignoring the boys clearing their throats.

When they separated, Evie felt a little better. She leaned forward and rested her head on Mal’s shoulder. “I’m not talking to Dr. Bren. I can’t.” she whimpered. 

“Then just talk to FG. You’re going to be okay. You are safe and loved and soon, you will be healthy, okay? It’s all part of our plan. Don’t forget why we’re here.” 

Evie nodded. She just needed to stay focused. 

\-----

Fairy Godmother sat in her office with Dr. Bren while the two of them waited for Evie. The conversation with the girl earlier hadn’t been fun, and she knew that she would probably be a lot less willing to participate today. 

“Did she admit that she has trouble with eating?” Dr. Bren wondered. 

“She didn’t actually say the words, but her mannerisms showed me that she does. She was very uncomfortable with the conversation and got defensive, but tried to cover it up by being charming. She only does that when she’s trying to hide something.” 

“Do you think she’ll actually talk to us about it?”

“Hard to tell. Probably not today, but maybe after a couple weeks. We need to get Mal and the boys to understand how serious this is so they can talk her into getting help.” Before they could say anything else, there was a knock on the door. “Come in!” FG called out.

The door opened and she was surprised to see Mal standing there. She turned, reaching out and grabbing something. It only took a few seconds to realize that it was Evie’s hand. She gently pulled the girl into the room. 

“I’m going to wait right outside.” Mal warned the adults. She looked at Evie, and Fairy Godmother could tell just from seeing her that she was beyond nervous. “Please, E.” 

Evie just nodded her head, letting Mal kiss her cheek but not reacting. The purple haired teen left, shutting the door behind her. 

“Take a seat, dear.” FG said, waiting to see if Evie would actually stay. She looked ready to run out of the room, but she just took a deep breath and sat down. “Evie, you know what we have to talk about today. Is there anything you want to start with?”

“No.” she answered with no hesitation. 

“I know this is an uncomfortable topic, but it’s something we need to figure out. If you really are struggling with food, then there are resources in Auradon that can help you.” 

“I don’t have a problem with food.” 

Fairy Godmother could see how on edge Evie was. She hated having to push her, but this was for her own good. “Then why did you not answer my question earlier? I asked you if the boys and Mal would agree you are healthy, and you didn’t respond. Even from the way Mal walked you in here, I can tell that she wants you to open up to me, Evie. I’m here to help you, remember?”

“I don’t need help. I’m fine.” 

“What foods do you dislike?” Dr. Bren asked.

FG studied Evie’s reaction. She instantly frowned at the therapist’s voice. “It’s a long list.” 

“Okay, go ahead and tell us. If you are a picky eater, I want to know what you don’t like so we can find some more stuff that you will like.” 

Evie’s leg was bouncing up and down and she was biting her lip. “I don’t like broccoli.” 

“Okay.” Dr. Bren wrote on her board. “What else?” 

Fairy Godmother felt uncomfortable from how anxious Evie clearly was. The girl’s eyes were darting around the room, obviously trying to come up with more foods that she didn’t like. She couldn’t sit and watch it happen anymore. 

“What is your favorite food?” Fairy Godmother interrupted, earning an approving nod from Dr. Bren. They both knew the intention of this wasn’t to make Evie uncomfortable, so the slight subject change was welcomed. 

“I like pineapples.” 

“That’s a good choice. I know that Mal loves strawberries, have you tried them?”

“Yeah, they’re good too.” Evie’s teeth dug harder into her lip, so hard that FG was waiting for her to start bleeding. “Pizza isn’t bad, and I like asparagus.” 

“Good! So there are a couple foods that you have preferences for, and almost all of them are healthy.” Dr. Bren told her. “That’s so good, Evie. Thank you for telling us some things you like. Now, I want to ask you a question. Do you ever feel like you eat too much?” 

FG knew that that was too far. She knew that Jay and Mal were making great progress with Dr. Bren’s abrupt approach, but Evie was different. She needed gentle guiding into a conversation, not straight forward questions. 

As predicted, Evie stayed completely silent. She stared down at her lap, twisting the ring Mal had given her around and around. 

“How did you get food on the Isle?” Fairy Godmother asked, hoping to steer the conversation back to a place where Evie would actually respond. 

The blue haired girl didn’t even look up.

FG sighed, but stood up and went over to the door. She opened it up, seeing Mal sitting on the bench across from her office, just like every other day Evie had therapy. 

“Is she finished?” Mal questioned. She started to shove her things into her bag. 

“She’s done for the day.” Fairy Godmother confirmed. 

“It’s only been ten minutes.” Mal realized. She slung her backpack over her shoulder and went into the office. FG saw Mal’s shoulders sag when she saw the state Evie was in. 

She walked further into the room, kneeling in front of her girlfriend. She put her hand under her chin and guided her to make eye contact. “Hey baby.” She practically whispered. 

“I wanna go to our room.” Evie said. 

“Okay.” Mal pulled her to her feet. She leaned down and grabbed Evie’s backpack, slinging it over one of her own shoulders. “Let’s go, Pretty Girl.” She kissed her forehead and led her out of the room. Fairy Godmother watched them leave, then shut the door behind them. 

“Well, that was unsuccessful.” Dr. Bren stated. 

“I know it’s not my place to tell you how to do your job, but you are being too harsh with her. That approach is working fine for Mal and Jay; they are both straightforward, mentally strong people who, for the most part, have their emotional issues in check. Evie is the exact opposite. You almost have to talk in comparisons with her; I learned the most about her when I let her speak instead of firing off questions.” 

“You’re right.” Dr. Bren said with a nod. “Next week, I will let you take the lead with talking, and I’ll just listen, if that’s alright with you.” 

FG nodded. “That would probably be better.” 

“After this though, I think we can definitely confirm that Evie has some sort of eating disorder. It also seems like Mal wants her to speak with us about it, so maybe that’s something I can mention to her at her appointment next week.” 

“That’s a good idea.” FG agreed. “I just hope we can help her. That poor girl has been through so much, and I don’t even think this is the most serious of her issues.” 

\-----

As soon as Mal opened the door to the dorm room, Evie walked inside and went towards their bed. Mal dropped both of their backpacks near her desk, then glanced over at her girlfriend. Evie slipped her shoes off and then crawled under the blankets. 

Mal glanced at the clock. She had Tourney practice in 40 minutes; if she couldn’t get Evie taken care of by then, she would just skip it. 

She slid her own shoes off and walked over to the other side of the bed. She lifted up the blankets and got into bed, Evie watching her with those dark, beautiful eyes she loved so much. 

“Hi.” Mal whispered, not needing to speak any louder. 

“Hi.” Evie repeated. 

“I know we haven’t been on the best terms today.” Mal said. She felt guilty for the way she treated Evie this morning. As soon as Mal found out Evie threw up, she knew that her attitude towards her probably played into things. She was starting to understand that Evie’s emotions were tied heavily to her eating disorder, but it was so hard to cover up her feelings sometimes. “I’m really, truly sorry, my Princess. I know that I said that earlier, but I want you to know that I mean it. I shouldn’t have gotten upset with you.”

“I understand why you did.” Evie’s voice was small and squeaky, nothing like her usual voice. “I put you through so much every single day.” 

“You are completely worth everything we go through.” Mal reassured her. She reached out, letting one of her arms drape over Evie’s waist, but she didn’t pull her closer so that she could still see her face. “I take it therapy didn’t go well?” 

“I don’t want to talk to Dr. Bren, or even Fairy Godmother.” Evie’s eyes welled up with tears. “This isn’t fair.” 

“No, it’s not.” Mal agreed. “You should have been born into a perfect family who loved and took care of you. You should have had a mother that encouraged you and made sure you were healthy instead of pushing you into bad habits. I should have worked harder to make sure you were eating on the Isle.” 

Evie shook her head. “That’s not your fault, Mal.” 

“It is.”

“You gave me all the food you possibly could. If I had eaten everything you brought me, then my mother would have locked me up.” 

Mal closed her eyes for a second, trying to clear her mind of the visual of Evie being locked up and starved in one of her mother’s many closets. 

“I need you to listen to me and really hear me this time, okay, beautiful girl?” Mal stared directly into Evie’s eyes. “This is the first step at getting better. This is not something that can continue anymore. It is not healthy for you, and it’s not setting a good example for anyone else. So many little ones on the Isle look up to you. Do you want them thinking that this is how they’re supposed to treat themselves?” 

“No.” Evie whimpered. 

Mal put her hands on Evie’s shoulders, pushing her down until she was laying flat on the bed. She moved the blankets back and crawled down until she was even with her girlfriend’s stomach. She pulled up her shirt. 

“Your stomach is so flat that it looks like it’s going to start caving in.” Mal told her before leaning down to press gentle kisses against her skin. “Give me your hands.” 

Evie didn’t protest when Mal grabbed her hands. The purple haired girl straddled Evie’s legs. She put Evie’s hands on her stomach, then ran them up towards her chest. 

“Do you feel that? Those are your ribs.” Mal let go of Evie’s hands so she could pull off her own shirt. She took Evie’s hands and ran them up her own sides. “Do you feel my ribs?”

“No.” Evie’s voice was tiny. 

“You used to be able to. Before we left the Isle, they always poked out. But now that I’ve been eating, they’re hidden. That’s a good thing because if you’re too skinny and you get hurt, you need that extra weight on your stomach to protect your ribs and organs.” Mal made Evie touch her stomach again. “If you fell the wrong way, I’m worried you would get seriously hurt. You are not healthy, Evie.” 

Evie sniffled. “I know that, but I can’t do it, M. I can’t eat.” 

“You can.” Mal kissed Evie’s stomach again, then the backs of each of her hands. “Your mother isn’t here. No one will stop you.” 

“It’s not just her. Sometimes, I can’t even control it. Like today, I knew that you would be mad if I didn’t eat. I wanted to do it for you, but I couldn’t. My body wouldn’t let me.” 

“The only thing I know to say back to that is that you can’t want to eat for me, baby. You have to eat because you know it’ll help you. I want you to say that. ‘I will eat so I can be healthy’.” 

“I will eat so I can be healthy.” Evie repeated through her tears. “But M…”

“Shhh.” Mal pressed a kiss against her full lips. “I know there will be hard days and times that you struggle. You just have to try your best, Pretty Girl. Try and talk to FG. Eat three solid meals a day.” 

She could tell Evie was miserable with the idea, but the blue haired girl nodded through her tears. “I’ll do my best. But I can’t be perfect.” 

“Just try your best.” Mal repeated, giving her another gentle kiss. “Now, I think you need a nap. It’s been a hard day.” 

Evie sniffled, reaching out and wrapping her arms around Mal’s shoulders, pulling her down so she was on top of her. “You have Tourney practice soon.” 

“I’ll skip it.” 

“No. I don’t want you to miss it.” Evie told her, her voice already lowering from exhaustion. 

“Okay. Is it alright if I stay with you until you fall asleep?” 

“Mmhmm.” Evie tightened her arms around her. 

Mal shifted so that they were both turned on their sides and her weight wasn’t completely on Evie. She knew realistically that her girlfriend wasn’t so tiny that laying on her would hurt her, but she still worried. 

“No.” Evie whined. 

“Shhh.” Mal stroked her fingers gently over Evie’s face, earning a content sigh. “Sleep, baby girl.” Evie’s eyes fluttered shut and her lips pouted gently as she started to drift off. She leaned forward and kissed her. “God, I love you so fucking much that I feel like my heart is about to burst.” 

“Love you too, babe.” Evie whispered out tiredly. 

“I wish you could feel how much I love you. I wish you knew that my entire heart is beating only because of you, and that you mean everything to me.” Mal kissed her again. “I will help you get better, my beautiful baby.” 

But Evie was already asleep, her breaths coming out slowly and quietly. Mal just pulled her closer and cuddled her, praying that she could keep her own temper in check in what was sure to be a rough couple of weeks.


	20. The First Game

_It was normal for there to be a few days between seeing the members of her crew. Mal wasn’t happy about it, but she understood. Sometimes, Jafar needed Jay to stock up on extra, or Carlos had to clean the house from top to bottom for Cruella, or Grimhilde refused to let Evie out because she wanted to try some weird new beauty remedy. Even Maleficent would keep Mal in the house occasionally to scheme together._

_One day was nothing out of the ordinary. Even two days wasn’t unusual. But as soon as they hit that three day mark, especially when it came to Evie, Mal worried._

_The boys didn’t even try to reassure her, and that almost made things worse. They all knew what was happening with Evie, but they didn’t know how to save her. How could they possibly stop this without facing even bigger consequences from their parents?_

_Right as the sun started to set, they heard the tell-tale clicking of high heels. Mal heard a rock being thrown, but as usual, it missed on the first try. The second time, the door opened up._

_Mal had learned that it was never helpful to rush towards Evie after one of these incidents. It was best to let her come up the stairs on her own._

_“Evie? Is that you?” she called out. She knew it was unlikely that Evie would answer, but it helped her girlfriend to hear her voice._

_Mal closed her eyes and listened as Evie came up the stairs. It didn’t sound like she was limping, so maybe she wasn’t hurt too badly._

_Evie came around the corner, her eyes glued to the floor. Her hair had fallen in a curtain around her face and she couldn’t see her expression._

_“We’ve been worried about you, my princess. Are you okay?”_

_Evie froze where she was standing. She looked up slowly, biting her lip as she finally made eye contact with Mal._

_Mal felt ready to explode. Her beautiful girlfriend’s perfect face was bruised up, leaving dark rings around her eyes and the shape of a handprint on her neck. Her lips were red and swollen and there were smaller bruises littered across her cheeks and nose._

_Mal sucked in a deep breath, trying her best not to jump up and run over to her. She glanced at Carlos and Jay, who were frozen in their spots._

_Evie was the first one to move. She slid out of her heels, then walked over to the couch Mal was sitting on. She sat on the opposite end, bringing her feet up under her. She stared off into space, her eyes looking darker than usual with the bruises around them._

_“What happened, baby?” Mal asked._

_“Someone she knew saw us kiss in the market.” Evie rasped out. Mal nearly flinched; she would never get used to how raw Evie’s voice was after her mother arranged a “lesson” for her._

_“I thought she told them not to mark up your skin.” Carlos chimed in. Mal was grateful that he was the one who spoke; Jay’s tone was always too harsh and sometimes it set Evie off._

_“He paid extra.” Evie leaned her head against the back of the couch. “I just don’t know what the point of this is anymore. I wish I wasn’t here.”_

_“Don’t say that.” Mal said, but she didn’t know how to reassure her. She liked to let Evie initiate contact so she could make sure she wasn’t pushing her too far. “You are so important, E. You matter to all of us, and we wouldn’t be here without you.”_

_“I can’t do it anymore, M.” her voice sounded choked up, but she wasn’t sure if it was from the swelling on her throat or her tears. “I’m not strong enough.”_

_“Yes you are.” Mal scooted a little closer. She reached her hand out, inviting Evie to make the first move. Evie grabbed her hand, then scooted over towards her. Mal spread her legs, letting Evie lay between them with her head on her chest. “You are perfect, baby girl. You deserve all the good things in this world.”_

_Evie buried her face in Mal’s neck. She could feel the hot tears and heard the tiny whimpers every couple seconds. Carlos came over, laying a blanket out on top of them._

_“Hey E, have you eaten? Do you need food?”_

_“I can’t.” Evie refused. “I already threw up when I was walking here. I can’t eat.”_

_“Okay, baby. Calm down.” Mal whispered as she ran her fingers through her hair. “You’re safe now. I’m here and I will protect you.”_

_“Why are we still dealing with this?” Jay demanded._

_Mal growled, but tried to keep her voice level for Evie’s sake. “Stop, Jay.”_

_“You’re going to let someone bruise her face up and get away with it?”_

_“Taking care of her is more important.” Carlos argued, standing and facing towards Jay._

_“We could take care of her if we eliminated the problem.”_

_“Either sit down or leave.” Mal said. If Evie wasn’t laying on top of her, she would have gotten up and thrown Jay out herself. She couldn’t believe he was doing this when he knew how agitated Evie could get._

_But then, she heard a tiny whisper, so quiet that she barely heard it. She realized that it was Evie, who was now half asleep in her arms._

_“What did you say, baby?”_

_Evie whispered a name, then snuggled even closer to her. Mal looked at the boys in surprise, who clearly hadn’t heard what she said._

_Normally, Mal didn’t ask who had hurt her. She had tried before and it ended with Evie hiding under a table having a panic attack; it took hours until she came out. Since then, she had never gotten the courage to ask._

_“Sit.” Mal repeated. Jay sighed, but stormed back over to his couch. Carlos followed a moment later._

_Mal cuddled Evie and laid gentle kisses on top of her head until she finally fell asleep. Once it had been a little while and she knew she was really out, she looked at the boys._

_“She told me the name.” Mal announced, breaking the silence that had settled over the hide out._

_Jay and Carlos instantly perked up. “Who?” Carlos demanded._

_“What are we going to do?” Jay questioned._

_As Mal glanced down at her girlfriend, she knew exactly what had to be done. She could never give this man the opportunity to go to EQ and ask for time with Evie again._

_“We’re going to kill him.”_

\-----

Evie tied the hair tie around the end of Mal’s braid carefully, then stood back to admire her handy work. She put her hands on her girlfriend’s shoulders. 

“All done.” She leaned down and kissed the top of her head. 

“Thank you.” Mal stood, turning and giving her a quick kiss. She went over to check out her French braid in the mirror. Evie had insisted on it, figuring that the Tourney players on the other team may try and play dirty and pull her hair. 

“My turn.” Jay interrupted, coming over and plopping down in the seat Mal had just vacated. 

Evie rolled eyes, but obliged. She tangled her fingers through Jay’s hair, pulling and twisting the strands of hair until they were in a braid. Then, she tied it into a bun so his hair could be tucked under his helmet. 

“Done.”

“What, no kiss?” Jay joked. Evie just smiled and shook her head at him. Jay stood and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Thanks, E.” 

“Mmhmm.” She glanced at Carlos. “What about you?”

“Me?” Carlos looked decidedly more skittish than normal. Evie knew he was nervous and she felt a little bad for him. 

“Do you want me to do anything special with your hair?”

“No, my helmet covers it all. Thanks though.” 

“You okay, C?” she asked, running a hand through his curls and scratching his scalp gently. The effect was immediate as he practically melted into her. 

“A little nervous.” He admitted.

“It’s fine. You’ll probably get to sit the bench anyway.” Mal said. “Hey babe, have you seen my uniform?” 

“I hung it up in the bathroom.” Evie told her. Her hair and makeup were perfect, but she was still dressed in only a t-shirt and her underwear, so she went over to the closet to try and find an outfit to wear. Today was the first Tourney game of the season and she couldn’t wait to cheer her friends on. 

As soon as she started to sort through the hangers, she heard Mal’s voice again. “Baby?”

“Yes?” she called back. 

“Do you know where I put my cleats?” 

Evie leaned down, picking up her girlfriend’s sweaty shoes from the back of the closet. She wrinkled her nose at the smell. 

“You’re gonna have to start keeping these in the boys’ room or something.” She said, passing them off in disgust. 

“Thank you.” Mal took the shoes. 

Evie went back into the closet to attempt to get dressed again. She found the shirt she had buried in the back of the closet so that it was hidden from Mal. As soon as she started to look through her pants, she heard her name again. 

“Princess, did you move my gloves somewhere? I thought they were on my desk.” 

Evie huffed and went back into the room. “No, you left them on the bathroom floor after practice the other day, so I picked them up and put them on top of your Tourney bag. You know, you could just keep all of this stuff in your bag and then you wouldn’t have to search for it.” 

Mal took the gloves she handed her. Evie walked into the closet again, quickly grabbing a pair of leggings and a skirt to put on before Mal could interrupt her again. She got dressed quickly. 

“Hey baby, is my tourney stick in here?” 

Evie turned and stared at her girlfriend, who was leaning up against the door frame. “I swear, if you ask me for one more thing…” 

Mal smiled. “I’m just kidding, I know where it is.” She walked further into the room and kissed the tip of Evie’s nose. “Seriously though, thank you for helping me get ready. I’m a little nervous.” 

“It’ll be okay.” Evie put her arms around Mal’s neck. “You’ve been practicing constantly. You know how to run and dodge.” 

“You’re not scared I’ll get hurt?”

“Of course I’m scared, but that’s for me to worry about, not you.” Evie pressed their lips together. “Good luck today. I know you’ll do your best.” 

Mal pulled back from her slightly, studying her outfit. Her face broke out into a giant smile when she saw Evie’s shirt. “What is this?” 

“I just wanted everyone to know who I’m rooting for.” Evie had taken all of her spare time and designed a shirt that looked similar to the Tourney uniforms. On the back was the number 6, along with “Mal” at the top, which was almost identical to Mal’s own uniform. She had even pulled her hair up into a ponytail today so the name and number could be seen. 

“It’s perfect, Princess. You look so fucking gorgeous.” Mal kissed her cheek, then her lips. Evie just leaned into her, letting Mal hug her. “So, uh, do you know where my Tourney stick is?” 

Evie punched Mal in the arm, making her laugh. She stormed back into the room and grabbed it from where it was leaning against Mal’s bed. “Do you even look?”

“Why would I look when I know that you know where everything is?”

“Maybe so you’re not constantly bothering me?”

“Alright, you guys can bicker later.” Jay interrupted. “We’ve gotta go.” 

“Cool shirt, E.” Carlos praised. His own jersey had the number 101 and the name DeVil. 

“That’s weird.” Jay said, glancing down at his jersey. “I’m pretty sure I’m number 8.” 

Mal rolled her eyes. “Find your own girlfriend to be your personal cheerleader. This one’s taken.” She grabbed her Tourney bag. 

Evie couldn’t help but smile at the sight of her friends. They all looked so cute in their matching uniforms. She held her phone up. “Smile!” she snapped the picture and then looked at it. Mal was scowling, Jay looked confused, and Carlos had smiled just in time. 

“At least give us a second to get ready.” Jay argued, plastering a charming smile on his face. 

Evie took another one, this time with both boys smiling and Mal smirking. The purple haired girl wrapped her arm around Evie’s waist and pulled her over. “Get in this one with us.” 

She held the phone up, snapping a picture of the four of them. She didn’t think any pictures existed of all of them, and it was something she would cherish forever. 

“Ready?” she asked, turning in Mal’s arms so she could look at her. She put her arms around Mal’s neck, while Mal kept hers around Evie’s waist. 

“Mmhmm.” Mal leaned in and gave her a kiss on the forehead, then her lips. 

“You’re going to do great today.” Evie whispered. “I know you are going to go out there and do your best and help your team win.” 

“Thank you.” Mal said in response. Right then, they heard the noise of a camera. They turned and saw Carlos with his phone. 

“What? Are you the only one allowed to take pictures?” 

“Let’s go before we’re late.” Jay chastised again. 

Evie waited while they all grabbed their Tourney bags. Mal instantly took hold of her hand, keeping her close while they walked out to the field. It only took them a few minutes to get there and when they did, they saw that the team was already warming up. 

“Score some points for me.” Evie gently cupped Mal’s cheeks in her hands. “Be safe.” She gave her a kiss. 

“Mal!” Coach shouted. “She’ll be there when the game’s over. Let’s go!”

Mal’s eyes lit up slightly and she let out a quiet growl. Evie couldn’t help but laugh. “Stop it. Get out there before you get in trouble.” She turned to walk, but Mal grabbed her hand again and pulled her back over for one last kiss. 

“You look so pretty today, baby.” She said, reaching a hand up to stroke her cheek, then twirling her ponytail around her fingers. “See you soon.” 

Evie couldn’t stop her blush even if she wanted to. Ever since their conversation last week, Mal had been so sweet and attentive. She was an amazing girlfriend normally, but Evie knew she felt guilty about getting upset with her for not eating, so she had been overcompensating. 

The last week had been jam packed full of things to do. Mal, Jay, and Carlos had Tourney Monday through Thursday, Evie had sewing club on Tuesday and Thursday, plus they were all still dealing with therapy appointments. It was a lot to balance and they were exhausted by the time the weekend came. 

In therapy that week, Evie still didn’t talk to FG or Dr. Bren. She knew that she had promised Mal, but she just didn’t know what to say. Their number one rule had always been to not expose weaknesses, and if she told them she struggled with food, they would know one of her greatest weaknesses. She told herself that maybe she would try against next week on Monday when it was just her and Fairy Godmother. 

Evie shook her head, trying to clear the thoughts from her mind. It was Saturday, so she still had a few days left to worry about that. Right now, she just needed to focus on Tourney. 

“Hey Evie!” she looked to the side when she heard someone say her name. Doug and Lonnie climbed up the bleachers, taking a seat on either side of her. 

“Cool shirt.” Lonnie complimented. “Did you make that yourself?” 

“Yes. It was pretty easy, I just looked at Mal’s jersey and made a few alterations to make it a little more me.” 

Doug glanced at the back with a smile. “I think everyone will know who you’re cheering for now.” 

Lonnie laughed. “You two are seriously the cutest.” 

Evie just smiled and shook her head. The three of them turned their attention towards the game as the whistle was blown, signaling that it was about to start 

The blue haired girl scanned the field, looking for her family. Carlos was sitting on the bench; normally, she would have been upset by that, but after seeing how nervous he was to play, she realized it was probably for the best. 

Jay was a center forward, while Ben took the left side, and Mal took the right side. The other players were familiar and she knew most of their names after watching her friends practice so much, but she didn’t know them very well, so she didn’t care to pay attention to them. 

Evie watched as everyone lined up behind the Kill Zone. Jay and the defenders were up in front, while Mal and Ben were a little further back. Evie’s eyes were glued to her girlfriend as she held her breath; she was so tiny compared to all the boys, and she looked even smaller covered in the padding and armor she was given. 

The ball was thrown into the Kill Zone and Mal shot forward, along with Ben and the two forwards on the opposing team, the Neverland Lost Boys. Someone from the other team got to it first and then everyone was running forward. That’s when they started shooting the Dragon Cannons. 

Mal went running full speed towards her opponent who had the ball. She slammed her body completely into his, sending him flying to the ground. Luckily, Mal crashed to the ground too as the Dragon Cannon was shot towards her, narrowly missing the Dragon Fire making contact with her skin. Evie felt her breath catch in her throat. 

“Shit.” She whispered, flinching as an opponent went running towards the ball, but Jay slammed into him so hard he went flying into the air before hitting the ground. 

Evie heard laughter next to her and looked over. She realized that at some point, she had grabbed Lonnie’s arm and she was digging her nails into her skin.

“Sorry.” She apologized sheepishly. 

Lonnie just smiled. “It’s fine. You can squeezed my hand if you want.” 

Evie didn’t think she would, until Jay was hurling the ball towards Mal. Her hand locked with Lonnie’s just as the two defenders on the Neverland team realized Mal was running towards them. They ran at her at the same time. 

Mal threw the ball towards Ben, then ducked down as much as she could, but one of the guys still hit her square in the chest with his shoulder. Mal flew to the ground and Evie was instantly on her feet. 

“C’mon, M. Get up, baby.” She whispered anxiously.

Mal jumped up, grabbing her stick and running towards the goal. Evie shifted her focus back over to Ben, who hurled the ball at Jay, who then scored a point. 

_“A point is scored for the Auradon Fighting Knights by newcomer number 8, Jay of the Isle!” the announcer called as everyone wearing blue and yellow cheered._

Evie sat back on the bleachers, wondering how she was going to survive the rest of this game. She was so incredibly nervous for Mal and Jay and she didn’t want them to get hurt. 

They started over again, players running into the Kill Zone to get hold of the ball. This time, Ben was the one to grab it and Jay and Mal ran forward. Unfortunately, Jay wasn’t paying attention to the Dragon Cannon. Evie saw the Dragon Fire coming right before it hit Jay in the back, sending him tumbling to the ground. 

Evie divided her attention between Jay, who was starting to get up, and Mal, who was wide open and waiting for Ben to hurl the ball towards her. She caught it easily and ran quickly, but Jay was still behind her, leaving her a prime target for both Neverland defenders and their center forward. This time, she didn’t even have the chance to dodge before she was completely tackled to the ground. Evie flinched so hard she bumped her shoulder into Doug’s. 

“I can’t watch this.” Evie groaned miserably, letting her head rest in her hands for a second while trying not to smudge her makeup. 

“She’s up.” Doug said after a few seconds. 

Evie reluctantly lifted her head. The ball had been recovered by the other team and they scored a point, causing their side to cheer. 

After they reset again and threw the ball into the Kill Zone, Evie was on the edge of her seat. Every time Mal, Jay, and Ben got close to the other team’s goal, they would be stopped and the ball would return to the other side of the field. They were constantly running in and out of the Kill Zone, meaning Mal had to dodge both Dragon Fire and her opponents. At this point, she couldn’t even watch Jay anymore. Her whole focus was centered on Mal and trying to see if she was on her feet or not. 

When the Dragon Fire did finally hit Mal right before the end of the first half, she hit the ground hard. Evie bit into her lip so hard that she started to bleed, and she could feel her nails digging into her palms. When they finally blew the whistle, signaling the first half was over, Evie let out a sigh in relief. 

“So Evie, how are you liking Tourney so far?” Lonnie teased. 

“Why do people think this is fun?”

“Mal is tough. She can take the hits.” Lonnie reassured her. 

Many people ran to the concession stands during half time. Audrey and Jane, who were cheerleaders, came up to see them for a second. 

“How are you doing?” Audrey asked. 

“She’s a nervous wreck.” Doug answered for her. 

“You get used to it. The first time Ben played, I was freaking out. It takes a little while to believe that the hits really aren’t that bad, but you’ll get there.” Audrey told her with a smile. 

Evie smiled back. “Thanks, Audrey.”

“If anyone can take this, it’s Mal. She might be small, but she isn’t going to take shit from those boys.” Evie looked at her in surprise. “What?”

“I just don’t think I’ve ever heard an Auradon kid cuss before.” 

Audrey laughed. “Yeah, if my father knew, he would probably pull me out of Auradon Prep and castle school me himself.” The whistle blew, signaling the game was about to start again. “See you guys later!” Audrey grabbed Jane’s arm, pulling her back towards the bleachers and towards the field. 

Evie didn’t think things could get worse until she caught sight of the number ‘101’ on the field. She sat up straight, wondering what in the world had possessed Coach to put Carlos in. He looked shaky and uncomfortable.

The game started and after the ball was launched into the Kill Zone, Mal got possession quickly. She raced forward, charging towards her opponent with no fear. Jay was running towards the same person and they slammed him at the same time, knocking him off his feet. 

Mal transferred the ball to Jay, who ran forward, swerving around one of the defenders. Mal was blocked, so he passed to Ben, who then scored a point. 

_“Prince Ben of Auradon scores a point for the Auradon Fighting Knights, bringing the score up to 2-1!”_

They reset again and the other team gained possession. One of Neverland’s forwards charged straight towards Carlos, who ended up ducking out of the way. The boy got around the other defender and shot it straight into the goal, tying the game again. 

“What was that, DeVil!?” Evie heard one of the boys on Auradon’s team shout from the sidelines. She recognized him as the kid who had been taken out so Carlos could go into the game. “Pull him out, Coach! He’s useless!” 

“Watch your mouth!” Jay shouted back as he and Mal both completely abandoned the game to defend their friend. 

“No.” Evie groaned, just waiting for the two most stubborn members of their group to start a fight. Even though she didn’t particularly love watching her friends get pummeled by other people or Dragon Fire, Tourney had been a nice way for them to let out some energy. It was going to suck when they were kicked off the team for starting a fight. 

“All of you, shut your mouths!” Coach shouted back. “Mal and Jay, zip it and get in position or I’ll pull you both out. Danny, if you say another negative word about a teammate, you’ll be out the rest of the season”. 

That quieted everyone and Mal and Jay returned to their spots. Carlos was still on the field and he looked over, making eye contact with Evie. She tried to give him a reassuring thumbs up, but it didn’t seem to help. 

The game started again and Ben and a member of the opposing team went for the ball at the same time. They crashed into each other and fell to the ground, neither of them taking possession. Mal ran over, grabbing the ball just as the other Neverland forward got there, slamming into her from the side. 

Evie watched in horror as Mal’s feet completely left the ground before she fell flat on her back. 

“That had to hurt.” Lonnie commented from next to her. 

“Come on, M. Get up.” Evie said quietly, jumping to her feet so she could see better. 

The other player got the ball and started to run towards Carlos. Maybe he was mad because of what just happened with Mal, or maybe he just finally decided to step up. Carlos ran straight into the other boy and shoved his shield right into his chest, knocking him clear off his feet. 

“YES CARLOS!” Lonnie, Doug, and the rest of the crowd started to scream for the younger boy. Evie wanted to, but she was still holding her breath as she watched Mal struggle to get to her feet. 

“Breathe, Evie.” Lonnie commanded. “Your face is as red as your necklace. Breathe.” She rubbed her arm gently. 

Evie flinched at the unexpected touch and sucked in a breath. “Sorry.” She said in embarrassment. 

Lonnie just studied her with a raised eyebrow. “Are you going to make it through the whole Tourney season?” 

“Not without having a heart attack.” 

Carlos had picked up the ball with his stick and he flung it forward, straight to Mal. Evie watched with a small smile, seeing the determination on Mal’s face as she ran forward, dodging Dragon Fire as she raced through the Kill Zone. Jay took out one defender and Ben took out the other, leaving Mal to weave around one player. She took the shot and made it. 

This time, Evie did cheer with the rest of the crowd. _“Number 6, another newcomer, Mal of the Isle, has scored the 3rd point, putting Auradon in the lead! Mal is the first girl to play Tourney, and now you see why, ladies and gentlemen!”_

Evie beamed in pride as Ben and Jay each slapped Mal on the back. The purple haired girl turned her head towards the crowd, and she knew she was searching for her. Evie couldn’t help but laugh when she finally spotted her and just pointed at her. Evie cheered louder and blew her a kiss. 

The rest of the game was pretty intense, but Mal was mostly unharmed. Jay managed to score another point, and Carlos was pulled out to sit on the bench again. Auradon’s defense held it together, not letting the other team score. 

As the final buzzer went off, the announcer’s voice was heard. _“Auradon Fighting Knights will take the win over the Neverland Lost Boys with a final score of 4-2!”_

Both teams lined up to shake hands with their opponents and tell them good game, and then they went into their separate locker rooms. Evie grabbed her bag and walked with Doug and Lonnie to the bottom of the bleachers. 

“We’re gonna go get lunch before the rush gets there. Wanna come?” Lonnie wondered. 

“No, that’s okay. I’m going to wait for Mal and the boys.”

“See you guys later.” 

Evie walked over near the locker room exit and waited patiently, looking around at all the people who were leaving the field. The Neverland team got out of the locker room first and walked by. 

“This must be one of the Isle girls.” A boy said, looking her up and down. He stopped walking, his friend staying by his side. “Funny how Auradon had to go get some villain kids to finally win a game. You all should go back where you came from.” 

Evie just rolled her eyes and turned her body so she wasn’t facing them anymore. 

The boy stepped in front of her again. “I was talking to you.” 

“Yeah, and now you’re not.” She said. 

“You think you can come over here and talk to us like that? You’re the Evil Queen’s daughter, aren’t you?” 

“Watch out bro, she might try to cut your heart out.” The second boy warned. 

“Wasn’t your mom supposed to be the fairest of them all?” the boy scanned his eyes over her again. “The apple fell far from the tree with you.” 

“Oh no, I’m so hurt by the opinion of some sad little boy who got knocked down by two different people who are half his size.” Evie said in a fake sad voice, clutching her chest dramatically.

“Listen to me, bitch…” The guy grabbed her arm. 

“No, _you_ listen to _me_ , bitch.” Evie twisted his arm quickly, bending it to an uncomfortable angle. “First off, if you ever touch me again, I’ll end your useless life. Second, you better get the fuck away from me before I show you how we settle issues on the Isle.” 

Evie didn’t break eye contact as the other boy stared her down. Before he could even open his mouth to speak, someone interrupted. 

“Is there a problem here, Frankie?” 

Evie looked over, surprised to see that it was Ben. He came to her side, taking a sudden step forward that caused the Neverland boys to step back. 

“Needed some villains to help you win, Benny boy?” The boy, Frankie, sneered. 

“No, but they certainly helped, didn’t they? I especially enjoyed the part when Mal knocked you clean off your feet.” 

“Since when do they let bitches on the team?” 

Evie took a threatening step forward. “Why is it any different than your team having a bitch? At least Mal is actually good.” She tossed her hair over her shoulder. “I didn’t see you scoring.” 

“Why don’t you…”

“Why don’t you turn around and walk out of here before you lose the ability to do so?” 

“What are you going to do, you little Isle slut? You going to make me?” 

“I could.” Evie agreed.

“Or she could tell Mal.” Evie looked to her other side, seeing that Audrey had joined them. “She may be small, but the daughter of Maleficent doesn’t mess around with people who bully her girlfriend. You know Mal’s mom is Maleficent, right? Her eyes can even glow.” Both boys paled slightly. “Oh look, there she is now!” 

They both turned and ran off. Evie couldn’t help but laugh. “Assholes.” 

“Why were they bothering you?” Ben questioned. 

“They were mad you have people from the Isle on your team, and they recognized me as someone from the Isle.” 

“Did they hurt you? Are you okay? Did they…”

“Ben.” Evie interrupted. She was still mad at him for ratting her out to Fairy Godmother, but she appreciated that he had come over to help her. “I’m fine.” 

“Mal is going to kill me for letting them near you.” 

“You didn’t let anyone do anything.” Evie told him. “I’m okay. You guys should go.” 

Ben looked her over for a second and Evie couldn’t help but feel like he was studying her. It worried her that he seemed to be able to read her and her friends (not as well as they could read each other, of course, but more than she was comfortable with). 

“Hey Audrey, could you give Evie and I a second?” Ben asked his girlfriend. 

“Why?”

“We have something to discuss. Please?” 

Audrey raised an eyebrow at him, but something in Ben’s face must have told her it was okay, because she nodded. “Evie, let me know if they come back. I’m not afraid to help you fuck them up.”

Evie could help but laugh at the very unladylike language coming from Audrey’s mouth. “Thank you, Audrey.” The dark haired girl left, leaving her alone with Ben. “What do you need, Prince Ben?”

“Stop it.” He said softly. “You don’t have to call me that.” She didn’t know what to say, so she said nothing. “I’m worried about you, Evie.” 

“Join the club.” She scoffed. Evie really didn’t want to let this boy who was practically a stranger to her get away with talking about her, so she would resort to Mal’s favorite tactic- sarcastic comebacks. 

“I don’t know if you know this or not, but I talked to Fairy Godmother about you. I told her that I’ve noticed you haven’t been eating and that you have some issues with food. I know that we don’t really know each other that well, but I care about you. I don’t even know the half of what you’ve been through on the Isle, but I want you to know that Auradon is a safe place. You will always have food and anything else you might need here. I know talking to FG probably violated your trust, not that you really trusted me anyway, but I had to do it. I want you to be healthy. I don’t want you to be upset with me, but if this helps you, then I don’t regret it.” 

Evie studied him. Ben was technically older than her, but he looked so young with his boyish smile and bright eyes. He had an easy life, and he didn’t understand struggling to survive. 

He didn’t understand that sometimes, secrets were the only thing that kept you alive. 

Evie took a deep breath. She wanted to stay mad, but he was winning her over. “I know you didn’t have bad intentions, but I wish you had come to me first.” 

“You would have told me you were fine. I’ve asked you before if you’re okay, and you always say you’re fine.” 

“I’m not your responsibility to worry about.”

“You are.” Ben told her gently. “Even if you all don’t believe it, I want you and Mal and Jay and Carlos to have a life here. I spend more time worrying about you all than you could imagine. I know you can handle yourself, but it’s okay to have help from time to time.” 

Evie nodded. “I’m trying to understand that. But I don’t like being ambushed, and I don’t like when other people talk about me.”

“I’m sorry.” Ben said. “I hope I didn’t ruin the chance of us being friends.” 

“Isle kids don’t have friends.” 

“You’re not on the Isle anymore, and in Auradon, we love having friends. Sorry to break it to you, but Audrey, Lonnie, Doug, and I already consider you friends. Even Jane does.” 

Evie smiled. “Now that I have a hard time believing.” 

“Okay, so Mal and Jay scare her. But she does like you and Carlos.” 

Evie couldn’t help but laugh. “Thank you for coming to me about this, Ben. Maybe one day, I’ll thank you for it, but I can’t right now.” 

“Take all the time you need.” He smiled. “You know, Fairy Godmother is a great person to talk to, but I know another person who would love to listen.” 

Evie rolled her eyes. “If you say Dr. Bren…”

“No, no, not Dr. Bren.” He reassured her quickly. “My mother is very interested in learning more about the Isle.” 

Evie frowned. “She had the past 20 years to learn about the Isle but chose to look away, knowing there were villains there having children.” 

“I’m sorry.” Ben said again. “I didn’t want to upset you. Maybe that was a stupid thing to say.”

“It was.” Evie agreed. She looked up, seeing Mal and the boys exiting the locker room. “You better go catch up with Audrey.” 

“See you later, Evie.”

“Bye, Ben.” She watched him walk away, her chest feeling a little lighter. Ben is practically the most innocent person on the planet, so she knew he hadn’t gone to FG to hurt her. Besides, she had more important things to worry about than being mad at Ben. 

“Hey Princess, you ready to change that number on your shirt to an eight yet?” Jay called out as soon as they were close enough. He flexed his arms. “You know, to represent the lead scorer of the Auradon Fighting Knights?”

“There’s been one game.” Carlos said with a roll of his eyes. 

“Why was Ben talking to you?” Mal demanded, instantly causing the boys to lose their smiles. 

Evie sighed. Leave it to Mal to ruin a good moment with her overprotectiveness. “He wanted to apologize for talking to Fairy Godmother.” 

“Really?”

“Mmhmm. Are you okay?” she scanned her eyes over her body. 

“I’m fine. I’ve got some sick bruises. Wanna see?” she turned around, pulling up her shirt. Her back was covered in bruises, making Evie wince. 

Jay gasped dramatically. “Oh no! How are you guys going to cuddle for hours now!? The pain might be too much to bear!” 

Mal whipped around, kicking his legs out from under him, making Evie and Carlos bust out laughing. 

Jay jumped up. “Wanna fight right here, right now, Bertha?” 

Carlos just groaned and walked forward, looping his arm through Evie’s and pulling her away. They could hear Mal and Jay playing around behind them, but they decided to ignore it. 

“How are you? Are you hurt?” Evie asked. “That hit looked bad.”

“No, it’s not too bad with all the padding.” Carlos told her. “I have a few scrapes and bruises, nothing major.” 

“You got that one guy good, C. I’m proud of you.” 

“He shouldn’t have pulled a dirty hit on Mal.” 

“Look at you being overprotective.” Evie ruffled his hair affectionately, then wrinkled her nose when her hand came away wet. “Is that sweat?”

“No, I jumped in the shower before I left the locker room.” Carlos smiled at her. “Were you nervous during the game?”

“You have no idea.” 

Mal jogged over, coming to Evie’s other side. She frowned when she saw her face. She stepped in front of her and ran her thumb over her bottom lip. “What the fuck happened to your lip?” 

Sometimes, it scared Evie how quickly Mal could go from playing around to her eyes glowing. It was both annoying and endearing to know that the fastest way to get Mal’s eyes to glow was to mess with Evie. 

“I bit it when you got hit by Dragon Fire.” 

“Baby.” Mal said soothingly, leaning forward to press a light kiss to the bruise on Evie’s lip. She grabbed her hand gently, then held it up. “Were you pinching yourself too?” 

Evie looked down in confusion, seeing that she did have a couple small bruises around her wrists. “I didn’t even notice.” 

Mal turned her hand over and saw the creases in her palms from how hard she had dug her fingernails into her skin. “Princess.” 

“I’m okay, M. It was just a little nerve-wracking to see you guys get blocked, or hit by the Dragon Cannon.”

“C’mere.” Mal held out her arms and Evie went into them instantly. Mal hugged her tightly and pressed kisses to the side of her face. “I’m sorry we made you worry.”

“Don’t be sorry. Did you have fun?” 

Mal couldn’t hide her smile. “Yeah.”

“Then it was worth it.” Evie kissed her nose.

“Will you two stop kissing and start walking so we can get lunch?” Jay shouted. Evie didn’t even realize that him and Carlos had passed her and Mal. 

“I’m gonna kick his ass today, I swear.” Mal grumbled. She kept her hand linked with Evie’s as they walked into the cafeteria. 

\-----

Mal thought school was insanely boring, with the exception of art class. Though she wouldn’t say it out loud, it was her favorite and the only time she really felt like she got to express herself. Her teacher didn’t suck and actually offered some helpful criticism. 

She lost herself within her latest painting until the timer rang, meaning they had to start cleaning up. Right as Mal finished with her work station, the door opened and Ben was standing there. 

“Hi Mrs. Barnell, may I grab Mal?”

“Once she’s all finished cleaning up.” Mrs. Barnell allowed. “Nice work today, Mal.” 

Mal just sent a nod in her direction and then grabbed her backpack. She strolled over to Ben, who stepped aside so she could exit the classroom and then shut the door behind her.

“How was art?”

“Fine.” 

“Was Evie alright after the Tourney game the other day? I haven’t seen you guys since then, so I didn’t get to ask.” 

Mal looked at him with a frown. “What are you talking about?”

“Some of the Neverland guys were harassing her.” 

Mal raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” 

“Oh, uh, it wasn’t that big of a deal.” Ben started to blush as he tried to backtrack. 

“Nice try, Benny-boo. What happened?”

“I walked in halfway through it. She was doing a good job at defending herself.” 

Mal scoffed. “Of course she was. She’s from the Isle. Do you really think Evie is as sweet and innocent as she may seem?” 

“Definitely not after what I heard.” Ben said. “They were upset about you guys being on the team. He asked when they let, um…” his face started to turn even redder as he scratched the back of his neck. 

“Spit it out, Ben.” 

“He called you a name, but I don’t want to repeat it.” 

Mal rolled her eyes. She didn’t have time for his innocence right now, she needed to figure out what had been said to Evie that worried him enough for him to bring it back up two days later. “A slut? A whore? A bitch?”

“The last one.” Ben said. 

“They wanted to know when you let a bitch on your team?” Mal clarified. 

Ben nodded. “But then Evie said that it wasn’t any different from them having one on their team, but at least you were good and she didn’t see him scoring.” 

Mal laughed. “That’s my girl.” 

“They called her a name too though, and that’s what I was worried about. One of the ones you said.” 

Mal guessed that it must have been ‘slut’ or ‘whore’. She felt a tiny pang in her chest when she realized that Ben was concerned because of everything that had happened with Chad.

“What did Evie say after they called her a name?”

“Audrey came over and told them that she’s your girlfriend, and that you’re Maleficent’s daughter and your eyes glow like hers. They got scared and ran off.” 

“Ben, I’m going to say this to you once. Evie is sweet and good and she understands emotions better than everyone else on the Isle combined. But don’t ever mistake her kindness for weakness. Evie is strong and she doesn’t need you to be worried about her over a little name calling.” Mal explained. 

“After I saw her upset…” he trailed off, obviously referencing Chad’s party. “I don’t ever want to see her upset again.” 

Mal nodded. “Thanks for checking in with me about it.” 

“You’re welcome.” Ben said in surprise. Mal was a little surprised herself; She never said thank you. “Hey, what class is Evie in right now?”

“Study hall.” Mal started to get a suspicious feeling. There was no way Ben pulled her out of art to talk about this, so what did he really want? “Why?” 

“A letter came in this morning from the Isle. It was a request from Evie’s brother. He said that he heard that you all got to video chat with your parents, and asked if he could do the same.”

As soon as Mal heard those words, she felt her blood run cold. She broke out into a run towards Evie’s classroom. “How long ago was this letter written?”

“It was dated from yesterday.” 

“Shit.” Mal cursed, picking up her pace. “Why didn’t you start with that?”

“I didn’t know it was serious. Is something wrong?” 

The bell rang, filling the halls with other students, but Mal just weaved around them. She could hear Ben’s footsteps behind her as they ran in the direction of Evie’s classroom. 

The blue haired girl was walking out, a smile on her face as she joked around with Jay and Carlos. Mal had two options here- she could alert her whole group to what was going on, which would probably cause things to blow up. Or she could pull Evie aside and they could figure things out before involving the boys. 

As soon as Evie saw Mal, she smiled again. “Hey M.” 

“Hey baby. Can I talk to you for a second?” 

“Is everything okay?” Evie frowned. “Were you running?” she glanced behind Mal at Ben, who looked uncomfortable. 

“What’s wrong?” Carlos questioned. 

“You two should go to Math. Tell Mr. Reynolds that Evie and I will make up the assignments we miss.” 

“Let him know I approved it.” Ben added. 

“No. That’s not how we do things.” Jay argued.

“I’ll explain as soon as I know what’s going on. Right now, you need to go, Jay. Stay with Carlos.” Mal urged. 

He seemed conflicted, but he just sighed and nodded, walking the other way with the younger boy. 

“What happened? What’s going on?” Evie demanded, her eyes widening. Mal didn’t know what to tell her, but her heart broke at the fact that Evie had to go from happy and laughing straight to scared and nervous. 

“Your brother wrote a letter to me yesterday. It was brought over from the Isle this morning, and he requested a video chat after hearing that your parents got to have one.”

“No, no, no.” Evie whimpered. “What else did the letter say?”

“Nothing, just that he wanted a video chat.” Ben turned to the girls. “I don’t understand why that’s a bad thing.” 

“The Isle never has good news.” Mal stated as she wrapped an arm tightly around Evie’s waist, leading her towards Ben’s office. 

“Evie, I never knew you had a brother.” Ben said. 

“Never came up.” Evie answered shortly. 

As soon as they got into Ben’s office, Ben directed them to sit so he could get the webcam set up. Mal sat down and pulled Evie onto her lap.

“Listen to me, baby.” She whispered, trying not to alert Ben to their distress anymore than he already had been. “We don’t know what’s going on. Whatever it is, we’ll deal with it together, okay?” 

“We have to go back.” Evie was practically hyperventilating. “Something must be wrong, so we have to go back.” 

“Once we know what we’re dealing with we will make that decision.” Mal kissed her cheek, then her forehead, then nose, and finally her lips. “Take a deep breath and try to calm down.” 

“My chest hurts.” Evie whimpered. 

“It’s because you’re not breathing. Deep breath in, let it out slow.” Mal soothed. “Feel.” She grabbed Evie’s hand and put it over her heart. She hoped that it helped, but she wasn’t sure if it would; Mal felt like her heart was racing too. “Just calm down, my Princess. I’ve got you, no matter what.” 

“It’s set up for whenever you’re ready.” Ben said. 

“Can you give us some time?” Mal questioned. 

“I’m sorry, but one of the conditions of the VK Exchange Program is that you can’t have any contact with the Isle without someone else present. I promise I’ll sit here and do my best not to listen though. I’ll catch up on paperwork.” He said. Ben turned the computer towards them and then settled into his chair with a file and a pen. 

“Ready?” Mal asked. 

Evie stood, moving to sit in the chair next to her. “As ready as I’ll ever be.” 

Mal pressed the button to start the chat. It buffered for a second and then it finally connected. Mal felt every inch of her body tense up as rage filled her. 

Black hair, nearly black eyes, and pale skin stared back at them. The boy on the screen smiled slowly, his lifeless eyes instantly landing on Evie. 

“Well hello there, My Queen.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Tell me what you're thinking! Any guesses on what will be happening next? 
> 
> Did you think the flashback at the beginning flowed okay? The next couple chapters coming up are all going to have flashbacks at the beginning. There's going to be two stories going on at one time for a little bit until they finally connect- the flashback at the beginning from the Isle, and then actual present day in Auradon. The flashback in this chapter actually happens right before the one in Chapter 15 where Maleficient confronts Mal after finding out she killed someone who touched Evie.
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the happiness of this chapter, because the next one is going to be rough!


	21. Forever Trapped

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning- read the tags. This chapter is a rough one. 
> 
> I really loved reading all of your theories after the last chapter. Please keep them coming!

_Evie sat at her sewing machine, working slowly and carefully on her newest dress. She knew that her mother would be angry if every seam and stitch weren’t perfectly in place, so she had to double check her work. She made sure to go slow so she could catch a mistake quicker and not have to redo the entire seam._

_Just as she picked the dress up to inspect it, she heard the front door slam open. She made sure her back was straight and that her legs were crossed like a lady. She looked into her reflection at the tiny mirror at her table, checking to see if there were any hairs out of place._

_“Hello, Genevieve.”_

_Evie put the dress down and turned her body fully to face the woman. “Hello, Mother. How was your trip to the market?”_

_“Oh, it was just delightful.” Evie felt a chill run down her spine at her mother’s tone. She could tell that there was something she wasn’t saying._

_“I am happy to hear that. Did you find the creams you were searching for?”_

_“Yes, and some information that I was not.” Her mother sauntered over, placing her bag down carefully on Evie’s sewing table. “Is there anything you care to tell me?”_

_“No, Mother. I have just been working on my dress and…”_

_Before she could even react, her mother’s hand had flown up, snatching her by the chin and digging her nails in. “Do you take me for a fool, girl!?” she raged, shoving Evie so hard that her back slammed into the table. She slapped her across the face. “Tell me!”_

_“No, Mother, of course not! You are not a fool! You…”_

_Grimhilde grabbed a hand full of her hair and dragged her back up to her feet. “You dare to lie to me still? Did you think I would not find out? Are you so naïve to believe that people would pledge loyalty to a little whore over the Evil Queen?” she bellowed._

_“I’m sorry, Mother, I don’t know what you are talking about.”_

_The older woman stared into Evie’s eyes for about three seconds before grabbing her by the cheeks, then slamming her head backwards into her sewing machine. It sent the machine flying to the ground and it broke apart, pieces flying everywhere. Evie felt dizzy as stars swam in her vision._

_“You stupid, worthless, little girl. I have associates everywhere. You have had lesson after lesson about why you are not allowed to be near the daughter of Maleficent. I’m starting to think you enjoy the lessons.” She grabbed her by the front of her dress. “Am I right, Genevieve?” she pulled as hard as she could, sending buttons flying as she ripped the front of Evie’s dress open. “Do you like when I set you up with those men?”_

_“No, Mother. Please, I…I…”_

_“You don’t even bother to deny it!” she grabbed her by her arms and started to shake. “What can I say to make you remember? Are you so stupid that you cannot realize that you are not allowed to be a dyke?”_

_“Mother, please!” Evie begged, though she wasn’t even sure what to beg for anymore. She didn’t want another lesson. She didn’t want to be locked up._

_There was a knock on the door and her mother smiled. “Oh good, time for your next lesson. I thought after the last one bruised up your face you would realize, but it is clear that I was wrong.” She grabbed her by the hair. “You better get out of that dress and if I hear you scream, I swear to God, Genevieve, this will never stop. I will let them use you up until you are begging me to kill you.”_

\-----

_When Evie got to the hideout, she felt empty. Three days she had spent with that man, no food, no water, no sleep. She didn’t want to face Mal and the boys and let them see what had happened to her, but she had no other choice. They were the only people who made her feel safe and if she fell asleep in the castle, she was scared about what her mother might do._

_She hit the sign on her second try and then walked towards the stairs. She heard Mal call out to her, but she couldn’t muster up the strength to respond. She tried to climb up the stairs, but her body was too weak. Evie lowered herself to the ground as carefully as she could and let her head lean back against the wall._

_When her eyes opened again, she saw Mal in front of her. The purple haired girl was talking, but Evie couldn’t hear anything she said. She reached a hand out, touching Mal’s chin and letting her index finger trace her lips and the slope of her nose. Her eyes shut again._

_Evie’s eyes fluttered open a moment later. She could feel Mal’s hands on her cheeks, but she still didn’t understand. She tried her hardest to focus, but it was no use. Mal gently grabbed her arms and put them around her neck. Evie nearly smiled. Being close to Mal was so nice. She tightened her arms around her and leaned her head on her shoulder. She felt her body being moved and realized Mal must have said she was going to carry her._

_Evie must have closed her eyes again because the next thing she remembered was laying on the couch. She couldn’t see anything, but she knew Mal was still there because she could smell spray paint._

_She felt something touch her hair and she flinched violently, sitting up. As soon as her body shifted, she threw up. It took her a second to see that she had thrown up all over herself._

_Eyes closed._

_Eyes opened. She could see Mal again, but she seemed so far away. Why was she so far away? Evie wanted to touch her. She didn’t care if her mother called her a dyke or slut or whore, she loved Mal. She would always love Mal._

_Eyes closed._

_Eyes opened. Was Mal crying? She could see her face, but her eyes wouldn’t focus. Carlos was there now too, he was sitting right next to her. Evie wondered if he was scared. He looked different._

_Eyes closed._

_Eyes flew opened. Someone was touching her. She couldn’t let someone touch her again, she was too sore and too tired. Her heart raced as she tried to gather her strength. Evie lashed out, flinging her arms towards the person, grabbing whatever she could and trying to get some hits in. She rolled, sending her body crashing to the floor._

_“You have to move.” She thought to herself. “You have to hide. You have to stay safe. Mal would want you to stay safe.”_

_Evie crawled until she was behind one of the couches. Not the best place, but at least no one was touching her._

_Eyes closed._

_Eyes opened. Her hearing was coming back now and it was loud. She couldn’t tell what the loud noise was but it hurt her ears, so she brought her hands up to cover them. Why was it so loud? Why did Mal leave? Why did her chest hurt so bad?_

_Her heart raced as her chest throbbed more and more. She realized she wasn’t breathing and sucked in some air, causing the noise to stop. Evie frowned, wondering what the noise was. She swallowed, feeling like there was sandpaper being rubbed against the inside of her throat._

_That’s when she realized the noise had been her screaming._

_“…so sorry, baby. I’m so sorry. You are safe now, okay? Carlos, Jay, and I are here and we’re going to protect you. I love you, baby. I love you so much and I’m so sorry. You are safe…”_

_“M?” Evie tried, but her voice wouldn’t work. She tried to swallow, but her mouth was too dry. She attempted to speak again, but it just came out as a little squeak. “M.”_

_She heard shuffling and then the floorboards were creaking. “Evie, do you hear me, baby? It’s Mal. I’m right here. Can I come to you?”_

_Her next noise was a tiny whimper. She looked over in time to see Mal crawling across the floor towards her._

_“You’re safe, baby girl. I’m here.”_

_Evie couldn’t respond, so she just held her hand out. Mal crawled over and sat across from her. She grabbed her hand carefully and pressed kisses against her skin._

_“I’m here, Princess.” She glanced behind her. “Carlos, get her some water.”_

_“Is she okay?” Evie heard Jay’s voice. When did he get there?_

_“Just stay over there, Jay.” Mal said. “She’s calming down.”_

_“Shit, Mal. I’m sorry. I’m so sorry.”_

_Evie frowned. Was Jay crying? She had never heard his voice sound like that before._

_“Baby, Carlos is right here. I’m going to get the water from him, okay?” Evie squeezed her hand, letting her know that she heard her. Mal kissed her palm and then crawled out of sight._

_Eyes closed_

_“No, no, no, baby. Open your eyes.”_

_It took all of Evie’s strength, but she would do anything for Mal. Her eyes opened back up as she felt a sharp pain in her head._

_“Take a drink.” Mal scooted closer and held the cup for her._

_Evie took a tiny drink, feeling her body instantly relax. It had been so long since she had water. She took big, greedy drinks, sucking in as much water as she could. As soon as she finished, she only had a second of warning before she threw up._

_“Mal.” She whimpered, her voice strained but coming out clearer now._

_“It’s okay, Pretty Girl.”_

_Evie looked down, seeing that she was covered in vomit. “Mal.”_

_“I know, my love. You’re okay.” Mal scooted even closer and Evie leaned over, resting her head on Mal’s shoulder. “Can I touch your arm?”_

_“Mmhmm.”_

_Mal stroked her fingers up and down Evie’s arm. The blue haired girl felt her eyes start to close again._

_“Eyes open, remember?”_

_Evie blinked, looking around the room. “Carlos?” she croaked out._

_“He’s over by the window with Jay.” Mal kissed her wrist, then palm. “We need to get you cleaned up, E. Can I help you?”_

_“Yes.”_

_Mal leaned down, putting an arm around Evie and helping her stand. As soon as Evie was on her feet, she felt her body protest._

_“Carlos started some water. It should be ready by now.” Mal took her into their tiny bathroom. The plumbing only worked sometimes, and they didn’t have a shower so they had to boil water and then wipe off in a tub, but it was better than being at any of their houses._

_Mal helped Evie into the room and lowered her to sit on the toilet lid. Carlos shuffled in a few minutes later with the pot of water._

_“Thanks, C.” Mal said. “Can you get her another cup of water to drink?”_

_After the boy left, Evie turned to her girlfriend. “Where’s Jay?”_

_“By the window, remember?”_

_Carlos came back, passing her the cup of water slowly. She tried to say thank you, but her voice cracked. She just nodded, and he nodded back in understanding._

_“Tiny sips, babe.” Mal reminded her._

_Evie took a tiny sip, feeling her sore throat moisten up a bit. She tried speaking again. “Jay doesn’t want to see me?”_

_“No, baby. That’s not it at all.” Mal kissed her hand again. “You can see him when you’re all cleaned up, okay?” Evie just nodded because what else could she really do. “I’m going to help you out of these clothes.”_

_Now Evie’s eyes couldn’t close even if she wanted them to. She watched as Mal carefully pulled her shirt over her head, tossing it into the corner of the room. She helped her out of her pants and underwear, leaving her naked body on display. She was still sitting on the toilet lid with Mal standing in front of her._

_Evie felt tears well up in her eyes. “I’m sorry, Mal.”_

_“Listen to me right now.” Mal said, her voice much harsher than before. “Don’t you ever apologize to me for this. This is not your fault. You are perfect and intelligent and so fucking beautiful, Evie. I don’t think you even realize how much I love you. How much my heart aches for you. How much I need you.”_

_The tears finally spilled over as Evie wrapped her arms around Mal’s waist. She buried her face in her girlfriend’s stomach and sobbed her heart out. She wasn’t sure how long it went on for, but when she finally pulled away, her eyes were nearly swollen shut and her throat hurt even worse._

_Mal’s own eyes were red and swollen and her bottom lip was still quivering. She kissed Evie’s forehead, leaving her lips pressed there for a long time. “I love you. You are my entire heart.”_

_“I love you.” Evie managed to rasp out._

_Mal helped her get into the tub. She grabbed a cloth and started to carefully clean Evie’s body. Evie had been through this many times before, but it never got easier. This time was by far the worst. Normally, she couldn’t handle her legs being touched. Now, she was jumping even when Mal wiped off her face and arms._

_As Mal cleaned her, Evie looked over her body. She could see deep purple bruises on her stomach, and she realized she probably had a couple fractured ribs, if not broken. Her wrists had deep, raw red marks around them. Her throat still hurt and she didn’t need to look in a mirror to see that her neck was probably black and blue. Her stomach hurt, between her legs was throbbing, her arms were bruised up, and she couldn’t even imagine how her face looked._

_“It’s never going to stop.” Evie whimpered as Mal washed her hair. “No matter what I do, I’ll always be trapped on this island with her.”_

_“We’ll find a way to get you away.” Mal promised. “You’re never going back.”_

_“I have to.”_

_“You’re not.”_

_Evie didn’t want to argue, so she just let Mal keep working. She was shivering from the cold air, but it still felt better than being trapped in her castle the past few days._

_Now that she was clean, Mal wrapped a towel around her. She dried her off carefully, pressing little kisses against her hair as she worked. Evie just leaned forward and wrapped her arms around her. Mal let the towel drop as she just held her._

_Evie didn’t know how long they stood like that, but it truly helped. There was nothing better than being held by Mal, and it was the only time she felt safe. After a while, Mal wrapped the towel back around her and helped her out to the main room._

_Jay and Carlos were sitting on the couch- Jay’s head was down and Carlos was rubbing his back. They must have heard the girls coming because they both looked up at the same time._

_Mal sat on the couch, keeping Evie on her lap. She cuddled close to her, feeling so safe that it didn’t even occur to her that she was naked under the towel. Her eyes shut again._

_“Uh-uh, beautiful. Eyes open.” Mal prodded._

_“Need sleep.” Evie protested._

_“Hey Jay, would you mind finding something for Evie to wear?” Mal asked. “Something warm.”_

_“Got it.” He left the room._

_“Keep those eyes open.” Mal said as she gently rocked her._

_“They’re open.” Evie lied, but she knew that Mal could probably feel her eyelashes fluttering against her neck._

_“Open, E. Only for a little longer.”_

_Jay returned a moment later. “Underwear, sweatpants, long sleeved shirt, a sweatshirt, and socks.” He listed._

_“Good job.” Mal shifted Evie on her lap. “I’m going to get you dressed, okay?”_

_“Mmhmm.” Evie shut her eyes and this time, Mal didn’t tell her to open them._

_“…them now, baby. Please open your eyes.”_

_Evie moaned miserably. “M, please.”_

_“I know, E. I know you are so, so tired and it’s almost time to sleep, okay?” Mal kissed her cheek. “You are so strong, my baby. Is it okay if Carlos sits with us?”_

_“Stay with me.” Evie whispered._

_“I’m staying right here. He’s coming over now.”_

_Carlos came over and sat across from them. “Where is it?”_

_“The back of her head.” Mal answered. Evie didn’t know what they were talking about. “I’m going to tilt your head, okay, Princess?” she trusted Mal. “I need you to speak, babe. I can’t see your face.”_

_“Okay.” Evie voiced. She winced as she felt fingers touching her hair and jolted forward._

_She felt Mal’s hands on her arms. “We’re going to turn your body. I want you to straddle me, E.”_

_“My body hurts.”_

_“I know, baby girl, and I’m so sorry. But we have to look at your head. You’re hurt.” Evie let Mal help her move. She cried out as she straddled Mal’s lap. “It’s only for a minute, my love. You’re okay. I’m sorry, Evie. I’m so sorry.” She kissed her cheek._

_Evie felt the hands on her head again. She flinched when they touched a sore spot. Mal wrapped her arms around her, effectively holding down her arms. Evie wondered if that’s part of why they had her move._

_“E, do you remember what happened to your head?” Carlos asked._

_“Mother was so mad at me.” Evie whispered. “She grabbed my face and she smashed my head into something so hard that I thought I saw stars.” Her face crumpled as she realized what it was. “My sewing machine. It fell off the table and it broke.” Evie started to cry again._

_“We’ll fix it, Princess. I’ll get you a new one. Please don’t cry, beautiful.” Mal kissed her cheek._

_“I know it’s stupid to worry about it, but that sewing machine was the only thing I had in that house to make me happy.”_

_“I will get you a new one.” Mal repeated as she rubbed her back._

_“Evie, I’m pretty sure you have a concussion. It doesn’t look deep enough that it needs stitches, but we have to keep an eye on it. That’s why you threw up.” Carlos explained. “You’re going to have to rest the next couple days.”_

_Evie just nuzzled into Mal’s neck, sniffling to try and stop her tears. “M, you’ll stay with me?”_

_“Always.” Mal promised._

_“Carlos?”_

_“Yes.” He agreed._

_“Jay?” Evie listened, but didn’t hear her friend’s voice. “Jay?” she lifted her head, seeing Jay sitting on the other couch with his head in his hands. “What’s wrong?”_

_“I’m sorry.” Jay cried out._

_Evie sat completely up, whimpering at the movement. She held her hand out towards him, but couldn’t bring herself to speak._

_“She wants you to come over here.” Carlos said for her benefit. Jay looked up, surprised to see her hand out. He stood slowly and kneeled down in front of her on the couch._

_“What happened?” Evie questioned. Jay’s nose was swollen and bloody and there were scratch marks across his cheek and neck. She gently touched his nose._

_“I hurt you.” Jay whispered._

_Evie was so confused, and she didn’t have the strength to try and figure this out. She looked at Mal helplessly._

_“When you got here, you were pretty out of it. Do you remember?”_

_“A little.”_

_“Jay touched you and you got upset.”_

_Evie’s eyes filled up with tears yet again. She didn’t know if she would ever stop crying. “I did that?”_

_“It’s not your fault.” Jay quickly reassured her. “I didn’t warn you before I touched you. I know better than that. It’s not your fault, Evie. Please don’t feel bad.”_

_“I’m so sorry, Jay. I trust you, okay? I trust you.” She reached out, pulling Jay off his knees and up so she could hug him. Jay rested his head against her chest and Evie winced, but still hugged him._

_“Okay, long enough.” Mal interrupted, gently pushing Jay back. He stayed where he was on the ground. “Evie, baby, can I pull your shirt up?”_

_She knew that Mal must be concerned about her ribs. She sighed, but nodded reluctantly. Mal kissed her forehead and then shifted her over so she was sitting on the couch instead of her lap. She helped her lay down and her and Carlos moved so that Evie was laying on the couch and her friends were kneeling next to her. Mal kept a hand locked with hers as she carefully pulled her shirt up._

_“Shit.” Jay and Carlos cursed at the same time._

_Mal’s fingers gently prodded at the bruises, making Evie wince. “Do we have any ice?”_

_“I’ll get it.” Jay offered. He disappeared, returning a moment later with a couple ice packs they had managed to snag a few weeks ago._

_Mal laid them on Evie’s stomach. “I need something to hold it in place.”_

_“Here.” Carlos grabbed Jay’s sweatshirt. Mal helped Evie sit so she could tie the sweatshirt around her abdomen to hold the ice packs in place. “Not too tightly, you don’t want to restrict her breathing.”_

_“Got it.” Mal pulled Evie’s shirt back down to cover it up. “Do we have any of E’s scar cream left?”_

_Carlos brought some over without a word. Evie watched as Mal carefully rubbed it onto her wrists, her neck, and a few spots on her face._

_“M, I can’t keep my eyes open anymore.” Evie admitted._

_“I know, baby. It’s time to sleep now.” Mal kissed each of her eyelids. “Can Jay carry you into the bedroom?”_

_“No, I don’t want to hurt her.”_

_“I can’t carry her without bothering her ribs. You need to do it.” Mal responded._

_Evie opened her eyes again to look at Jay. “I trust you, remember?” she reached out to him._

_Jay scooped her up carefully, trying to keep her as still as possible. He carried her into their little makeshift bedroom and laid her down on the bed. Mal crawled up next to her, pressing a kiss to her cheek and wrapping an arm around her._

_“You’re safe, baby girl. This will never happen again.”_

_Evie wanted to believe her, but she knew the truth. She would have to go back to her mother sometime. But maybe she wouldn’t have to see this man again. “M?”_

_“You’re okay.”_

_Evie mumbled the name of the man who had visited her castle. She felt Mal tense up, then take a deep breath._

_“I will always keep you safe, Pretty Girl. No matter what I have to do.” She kissed her forehead. “It’ll be over by tomorrow night.”_

_“Don’t leave me yet.” Evie whispered into her skin._

_“We’ll be right here, Princess.” Mal promised. “Sleep.”_

_With Mal’s permission, Evie drifted off into a painless dream._

\-----

“What’s wrong, Genevieve? You can’t say hello?”

Evie felt nothing but panic. She couldn’t speak, couldn’t think, couldn’t even breathe as she stared at the screen. She never in a million years would have thought that this would happen. Her body wouldn’t stop shaking as she struggled to come to terms with the person staring at her. 

She could feel how tense Mal was beside her. She wanted to just shut the screen off and pretend like this never happened, but she had to find out what he wanted. 

“Why are you calling, Quinton?” Mal demanded. 

He started to laugh. “I thought Auradon would make you a little sweeter, Mal. I can tell you’re still just as wretched and hateful as you were when you abandoned…I mean _left_ your home.” 

“Why the fuck would you care about if I left the Isle or not?” 

“Oh, I couldn’t care less about where you are. What concerns me is that you took what belongs to me.” 

“You are delusional.” Mal said. Evie was proud of her for not taking the bait and arguing with him because that’s all he ever wanted. “Feel free to get to the point on why you are calling.” 

“I wanted to see my Queen again.” Quinton smirked and Evie felt sick. “Do you miss me, Evie?” 

Evie took a deep breath. “No.” 

He laughed. “Wow, listen to you. Maybe Auradon will help you get some of your fight back. It’s no fun playing around with something you’ve already broken.” 

“You’ll never know.” Evie felt rage fill her body. “I will never be near you again. I will kill myself before I ever end up in the same place as you.” 

“Careful, Genevieve. You’re starting to sound rebellious again, and you only do that when you’ve been hanging around with Mal. What would your mother say if I was to tell her this?” 

Evie didn’t know what to say back. Luckily, Mal stepped in. “You have two seconds to get to the point before I cut this call off.”

Quinton laughed loudly. “I spoke to Harry and Uma. I know all about your dirty little secret, my Queen.” 

Evie would never forget the haunting smile on his face. She leaned forward, pressing the button to turn the screen off, then threw up all over the floor. She coughed as she struggled to control herself. 

“Breathe, baby. You’re okay.” Mal rubbed her back comfortingly. 

Ben looked in shock. “That was your brother?” 

“No.” Mal answered. 

“I’m sorry, Ben. I didn’t mean to.” Evie apologized profusely. “I’ll clean it up.”

“Don’t worry about it. Try and calm down, okay?” he handed her a tissue and a bottle of water. 

Evie wiped her mouth off, then took a drink. She felt Mal’s hand locked on her leg and she whimpered, then leaned over to rest her head on Mal’s shoulder. 

“We’ll figure it out. It’s okay.” Mal kissed her forehead. 

“I don’t want to overstep, but what’s going on?” 

Evie glanced at Mal, silently asked her to answer Ben. “There’s just a lot of tension left from us leaving.”

“Why?” Ben wondered. 

“When someone who has possession of major territory suddenly leaves the Isle, it stirs up a lot of issues.” Mal stood, pulling Evie to her feet. “Are you sure you don’t want us to clean up?”

“I can call the cleaning service. Just get Evie back to your room and rest.” 

“Okay.” Mal grabbed her bag, then handed Evie’s to her. They walked out of the room together. 

“We have to go back.” 

“We can’t.” Mal said. “If we go back, he will find you. You’ll be in danger and I’m not letting that happen.” 

“You know there are more important things at risk, M.” 

“Shhh, I don’t want to talk about this here. We’ll talk when we’re back in our room.” 

\-----

As soon as Goodness class ended, Jay and Carlos completely skipped out on lunch and ran back to the girls’ dorm. They busted in, but didn’t see them. 

“Bathroom door is shut.” Carlos noticed. 

“Come on.” Jay charged over, knocking loudly on the door. “Mal! Evie!” 

“It’s open.” Mal responded. 

Jay opened the door. He was surprised to see Mal and Evie sitting fully clothed in the empty bathtub. Evie’s knees were pulled up to her chest with her forehead resting against them, and Mal had both arms wrapped around her. 

“What the fuck happened?” Jay demanded. 

“Ben came and found me today to tell me that a letter came from the Isle. He said Evie’s brother was requesting to video chat with her.”

“Why? What happened?” Jay questioned. 

“Let her finish.” Carlos scolded. 

“Long story short, we got to Ben’s office. He set it up and when the video loaded, it was Q.” 

Jay’s hands tightened into fists. He would kill him. He had envisioned the other boy’s death many, many times and he couldn’t wait until the day it actually happened. 

“Why?” Carlos asked in confusion. 

“So he could fuck with Evie’s head.” Mal said. 

“You don’t know that!” Evie shouted, lifting her head. Tears were streaming down her cheeks. “You have no idea what he knows!” 

“What did he say?” Jay wondered, his eyes darting back and forth between Evie and Mal. 

“That I took what belongs to him to Auradon. He said he wanted to see E and asked if she missed him, and she said no.” Mal’s jaw clenched. “He said he hoped she was getting some fight back because it’s not fun playing with something that’s broken.”

“Do we really need to give them the word for word description?” Evie questioned as she ran her fingers through her hair. 

“He said she’s getting rebellious and she only does that when she’s with me, and threatened to tell her mom. Then he said that he talked to Harry and Uma and he knows Evie’s dirty little secret.” 

Jay was on his feet in seconds. “Why are we still here? We need to go.” 

“Because we have no idea what he knows.” 

“You’re willing to risk that?” Jay asked. 

“No.” Evie said. “See Mal, I told you! We need to leave!” 

“We’re not leaving.” Mal argued. “You guys know how Q is. He likes to mind fuck people. Of course he would throw out some cryptic message like that.” 

“Or he really knows.” Evie countered. 

“But I don’t think so. He made those comments about you on purpose. He wanted to hurt you because he isn’t close enough to touch you. He only wrote that letter because he heard that our parents video chatted with us. I guarantee your mother mentioned it to him and they agreed to do this together.” 

“Then what secret would he be talking about, Mal? What else is important enough for him to hold over my head?”

“He doesn’t know any secrets, that’s why he didn’t say anything specific.” 

“So you think he just made it all up?” Jay summarized, trying to make sense of this conversation. 

“Unless there’s been a huge power shift on the Isle, I don’t see Q being in the same room as Uma and Harry and living to tell the tale.” Mal stated. 

Carlos tilted his head. “So you’re saying you trust Uma and Harry?” 

“As much as I hate to say it, when it comes to Evie, I do.” Mal agreed. “Princess, think about it. The only people who hate Q almost as much as us are Uma and Harry. They might hate me, but they wouldn’t betray you for him.” 

Evie bit her lip. “It’s still a risk, Mal. We can’t just let this go without checking to be sure.” 

Mal put her hands on Evie’s cheeks. “I want you to listen to me and understand what I am saying to you. You are not under any circumstances going back to the Isle. Not with your mother and Quinton still breathing. Maybe we can find a way to send a message or something, but you’re not leaving Auradon.” 

Jay watched as Evie wiped the tears off her cheeks, but more kept coming. “You can’t ask me to do that, Mal.” 

“I’m not asking. We’ll figure it out, but it’s too big of a risk for you to go back.”

Evie shook her head angrily. “Three days. If I don’t have something confirmed in three days, then I’m going back.” 

Jay knew this was going to be bad. But even he couldn’t have predicted just how bad things were about to get. 

\-----

The first day, Evie barely spoke to her. Mal knew she was angry, but it didn’t hit her just how upset Evie was until she refused to sleep in the same bed as her. Mal felt guilty; there was nothing she hated more than fighting with Evie. But this was for her own good. 

On the second day, Ben helped her send out a message. She knew it would be difficult because Maleficent intercepted any and all mail. Mal was hoping that if they could get the message to the right person, they would deliver it to Uma and Harry. After Evie found out about the message, she talked to Mal a little more, but things still weren’t the same. It didn’t help either that it was Wednesday and Evie had to go to therapy. By the time Mal got home from Tourney, Evie was passed out and didn’t wake up until morning. 

On the third day, Evie was ready to pack her bags and leave for the Isle. Mal couldn’t calm her down enough on her own, but with Jay and Carlos’s help, they were able to talk Evie into waiting one more day. She wasn’t happy about it, but she stayed. 

On the fourth day, Ben delivered the message to her. He said he didn’t understand what it meant. Mal grabbed it, quickly scanning over the code they had developed. The note said that everyone was safe and nothing with their plan had changed. When Evie saw it, she cried and then locked herself in the bathroom for over an hour. When Mal finally picked the lock, she found her asleep in the bathtub. She hated seeing her upset, but she was glad she made the tough call. Evie wouldn’t have been safe if she went back to the Isle, and it all would have been for nothing. 

It was Friday now. They had a game tomorrow, so Coach called for an extra Tourney practice. Evie was finally letting Mal hug and kiss her again, so Mal gave her a kiss and then ran off to practice. 

They ended up finishing early and Mal couldn’t be happier. This week had been hell and she was so ready to just cuddle with her girl and decompress. 

She unlocked the dorm room door and was surprised that she didn’t see Evie. She looked around, then noticed the bathroom door was shut. Mal dropped all of her Tourney equipment in the closet and changed clothes (luckily, she had jumped in the shower right after practice). When she was finished, she realized Evie still wasn’t out of the bathroom. 

That’s when she heard the coughing, followed by the sound of throwing up. Mal went over and opened up the bathroom door just in time to see Evie sticking her fingers down her throat. 

“You cannot be fucking serious.” She said with a dry laugh. 

“Mal?” Evie turned around, looking guiltier than Mal had ever seen. 

Evie had struggled with food for almost as long as Mal had known her. She was around eight when her mom started monitoring her weight and constantly mentioning that she needed to be smaller. She knew that sometimes Evie skipped meals, sometimes she would eat and then throw up involuntarily, and sometimes she forced herself to throw up. In all the time Mal knew her, she had never had to witness Evie actually sticking her fingers down her throat. 

Mal turned and stormed out of the bathroom. She couldn’t believe this. This week, Evie had been present at every meal. She was eating and had actually seemed to stop dreading it as much. She should have realized that it was because she was sneaking off to throw it all back up. 

“Mal, I’m sorry.” Evie whispered. 

“You’re sorry? That’s what you’re going to say to me right now?” Mal questioned. “What in the actual fuck, Evie?” 

“I…I just…” 

“No. There’s no excuse. I actually thought you were trying! I was so fucking proud of you because I thought that even though this week has been terrible, you were still trying to be healthy. I guess I’m just a fucking dumbass.”

“I’m sorry, Mal. I didn’t want to.” 

“You didn’t want to!?” Mal yelled. She tried hard to contain her voice, but she was pushed past the point of being able to control herself. Evie started to come towards her, but she pushed her back into the bathroom. 

“Mal.” Evie said, tears starting to fill her dark eyes. 

“Show me.” Mal told her simply. 

Evie frowned. “What?” 

“You want to hurt yourself so badly, go ahead and show me. Seriously, Evie. I want to see what’s so amazing about you hurting yourself that you continue to do it over and over and fucking over again!” 

Evie was crying now, shaking her head back and forth. “I couldn’t help it, Mal. I’ve been so worried all week and I couldn’t control it. I couldn’t…” 

“SHOW ME!” Mal screamed, interrupting her excuses. 

“Please stop.” Evie begged. She tried to walk around her, but Mal shifted so she was blocking her in. “I want to go.” 

“You’re not leaving.” 

“Stop!” Evie shouted, her cries turning to sobs. 

“I’m giving you the chance to do exactly what you want to do!” Mal yelled. “Do it, Evie! Go ahead!” 

“Mal, stop it!” she tried to move past her again, but Mal stepped forward, pushing her further into the room. “Please Mal, I’m sorry. Please stop.” 

“What the fuck is happening right now?” 

Mal was still staring at Evie, wondering how she had been so blind to the fact that she was throwing up. She thought back to every moment this week where she had disappeared and conveniently, they were all near meal times. She had been doing this all week and Mal didn’t even notice. 

That’s when she heard the new voice join the conversation. It snapped her out of her thoughts and she turned, seeing Jay and Carlos in the doorway. She looked back over, seeing that Evie was sitting on the floor and bawling her eyes out. 

“Get out.” Jay ordered, grabbing Mal by her arm and shoving her out of the bathroom. He shut the door gently behind her. 

“Back off.” Mal growled. 

“You need to back off!” Jay yelled. “We could hear you yelling at her from down the hallway. How can you be so goddamn insensitive?” 

“How is everything always my fault?” Mal yelled back just as loudly. 

Jay grabbed her arm again, dragging her out of the dorm room and away from the sounds of Evie’s cries. He led her to the stairwell. 

“She does this over and over and over again and I’m supposed to do nothing about it?” she questioned. “I am so frustrated with just standing by and letting Evie hurt herself!” 

“Yeah, well trying to force her into doing it probably isn’t the best way to get her to stop.” Jay chastised. 

Mal felt a pain in her stomach as the guilt settled in. “I knew she wouldn’t do it in front of me. I just wanted her to see how much it hurts me when she hurts herself.” 

Jay shook his head. “I know it’s been a hard week, and things have been pretty tense between you and E. But this is _E_ we’re talking about, you asshole. In all the time I’ve known you two, I have never seen you be so disrespectful towards her.” 

“That’s because I haven’t.” 

“Think about how she feels right now. I’m not saying that I agree with Evie throwing up, because trust me, it pisses me off too. But this week she had to see Q, worry about what he knows about her, wait around and see if someone responds saying everything is safe, and on top of that the two of you haven’t been getting along. You know she gets upset and nervous and when that happens, the food stuff starts acting up.” 

“She told me she couldn’t help it.” Mal said. “That’s she’s been so worried all week and she couldn’t control it.” 

“I know it’s hard to believe, but maybe she couldn’t.” Jay told her.

Mal sat down on a step. “I’m such a bitch.” 

Jay sat next to her. “You made a mistake. It happens.”

“I can’t afford to make mistakes like that. Not when it comes to her.” Mal ran her fingers through her hair. “I yelled at her and I made her cry. I’ve been bossing her around all week, telling her she can’t go to the Isle. Then I yell at her to show me how she hurts herself.”

“You were doing it to protect her. For what it’s worth, I agree with you that it was in Evie’s best interest to stay here. I’m happy nothing was wrong, but even if it was, I wouldn’t have wanted Evie to go back with us. There are too many demons lurking on the Isle waiting for the opportunity to hurt her.” 

Mal wiped angrily at the tear that fell from her eye. “What do I do, Jay?” 

“You go back to your dorm and you apologize. You tell her that you’re there and you’re going to help her get through this. You remind her what’s at stake if she can’t control herself. You push her to start talking to FG and Dr. Bren about food, and then you stop. As much as you want there to be, there’s not a switch you can just flip to make her better, Mal.” 

She wiped another tear away. “When did you become so wise?” 

“I don’t know, I guess Carlos is rubbing off on me.” Jay stood up and offered her a hand, which Mal took without hesitation. “Come on, let’s go get your girl.” 

They walked back to the dorm slowly. As soon as they got to the door, Mal could hear Evie’s sobs. She felt like she was going to throw up. 

Jay reached around her and pushed open the door before she could protest. Carlos was sitting on the floor outside of the bathroom with Evie on his lap, who was inconsolable. 

“Shhh, calm down, E. Deep breaths.” Carlos urged. 

“I…made…her…hate…me!” Evie sobbed. 

“I don’t think so.” Carlos tilted his head towards the door. Evie looked over and as soon as she saw Mal, she turned on Carlos’s lap so she didn’t have to face her. Mal swore she felt her heart break a little. 

Evie’s face was buried in Carlos’s neck, Jay was just standing there in silence, and Carlos was gently stroking his fingers through her hair. Mal didn’t know what to do. 

“Go.” Jay pushed her forward. 

Mal sank down on the floor across from Carlos. She slowly reached her hand out and he stopped playing with her hair, letting Mal take the lead. 

“Baby…” as soon as her hand touched Evie’s back, she flinched. Mal pulled back as if she had been bitten. She couldn’t believe she had scared her so badly that she jumped when she touched her. No matter what had happened, Evie had never been afraid of Mal’s touch before. 

She looked to Jay and Carlos helplessly, but they didn’t have any answers. Jay came over and sat next to her and patted her back reassuringly. 

Mal cleared her throat as her vision started to blur, knowing she needed to speak. “Evie, I’m so sorry, baby. I fucked up.” She cursed herself as her voice got choked up and started to crack. “It’s so hard seeing you hurt yourself and I just wanted you to stop. I crossed a line, and I should have never yelled at you like that or told you to hurt yourself.” Her bottom lip quivered as the tears streamed down her cheeks. “I just don’t know what to do anymore because I keep seeing you get more and more distant and I hate it. I love you so much, and I know I don’t say that often enough, but it’s true. I love you more than I have ever loved anything and the only thing I want in this world is for you to be okay.” 

Mal studied her girlfriend, seeing that Evie was still trembling in Carlos’s arms. She didn’t want to do this, but she would do anything for her beautiful girl.

“If you need to take a break from us, I understand. I…” 

Evie’s head lifted up slowly from its place in Carlos’s neck. “I don’t wanna take a break.” 

Mal couldn’t help but sigh in relief. “Good, because I really don’t want that either.” She tried to wipe her tears away. 

Carlos reached up and wiped Evie’s cheeks off with his hand. “E, it’s time for you to get some help. We’re all really worried about you and we just want you to be safe and healthy.” He squeezed her tighter in his arms. “This isn’t something you have to do on your own anymore.” 

Mal nodded in agreement. “I know it probably doesn’t sound like fun, but you need to talk to Dr. Bren about this. If you want, I’ll even go with you. I’ll do anything to make you happy, baby. I just want you to be better.”

“I want to be better.” Evie whispered. 

“We know you do.” Jay stated. “That’s why we are so hard on you and why we care so much when something happens. But I think we also need to realize that there’s going to be slip-ups.” He looked pointedly at Mal, who rolled her eyes. 

“How about we all go to therapy with you one day?” Carlos suggested. “That way, we can learn what to do because the last thing any of us wants is to upset you or do the wrong thing.” 

Evie hugged Carlos as tight as she could, then leaned up and kissed his cheek. “Thank you for loving me, you guys. I hope you know how much I love you back.” 

She crawled across the floor to where Jay was sitting and then kneeled. Jay pulled her into a hug, and then she kissed his cheek. “We do.” He said. 

Mal felt her breath catch in her throat as Evie shuffled over to her. She straddled her lap and pressed their lips together. Mal put everything into that kiss, trying to communicate to Evie how much she loved and cared about her. She tilted her head slightly, trying to find a better angle. Evie’s lips parted and Mal took the invitation without a second thought. She pulled Evie’s bottom lip into her mouth and sucked on it gently. After a moment, Mal finally pulled back. 

“I’m sorry.” She whispered against Evie’s lips. 

“Me too.” Evie agreed before connecting their lips again. 

As soon as Evie let out a moan, Jay jumped up. “Alright C, our work is done here. We don’t need to be here to watch the reunion.” 

“See you guys later.” Carlos called, but Mal and Evie were already lost in their own world. 

“Thank God that worked out.” Jay said to Carlos once they left the room. 

“Yeah, I can’t imagine a world where they’re not together. I think we learned how miserable that could be when they pretended they weren’t dating.” Carlos stated. “You think they’ll be good?” 

“I think they love each other too much to not put their all into solving their issues.” Jay told him. “Mal felt pretty guilty about the whole thing.”

Carlos nodded. “I know Evie was wrong for throwing up, but I just have such a hard time blaming her for things when a- she’s bawling her eyes out on my lap, and b- I know the shit she’s been through.”

“Hopefully she can open up in therapy, and we’ll all just stay on her about it. I don’t want her to feel like we’re babysitting, but maybe we should stop leaving her alone after mealtimes too.” 

Carlos shrugged. “That’s all we can do, I guess.” 

Both boys knew the issues were far from over, but they have confidence that Mal and Evie would always figure things out.


	22. Expanding the Circle

_“Happy birthday, Pretty Girl.” Mal whispered against Evie’s lips as they stood in the doorway of the hideout._

_“Thank you for making this day amazing.” Evie told her._

_“You deserve nothing but amazing things.” Mal kissed her forehead. “You better go, I don’t want you getting in trouble today.”_

_Evie hugged her tightly, soaking up all the love that Mal had to offer. It was so strange that everyone considered Mal to be the most dangerous villain kid, but she could be loving and sweet towards Evie (and the boys on occasion)._

_“Go, baby.” Mal said, giving her one last kiss._

_“See you tomorrow.” Evie slipped out of the hideout and started the long trip back to her castle. She knew Mal would be trailing behind her; they couldn’t be seen together, but she would never let her walk home at night on her own._

_Evie couldn’t help but smile when she thought about her day. It was her 15th birthday, and she was really holding out hope that this would be the best year yet. Mal and the boys had made the day perfect. They had all worked together to get her new fabric, and Carlos was able to put parts together to make her a new sewing machine. She had cried when she saw it, realizing how lucky she was to have a crew who cared about her._

_When Evie arrived at the castle, she turned around and waved. She couldn’t see Mal, but she felt her presence. She opened the door carefully, hoping that her mother had already gone to sleep for the night._

_“Genevieve, my darling! Come in here!”_

_Evie couldn’t believe it. Did her mother actually sound happy? Maybe now that she was 15, she would let Evie do her own thing. Maybe things wouldn’t be so bad anymore._

_She found her mother in the living room with a box laid out on the table in front of her. “Happy birthday, child. Go ahead and open your present.”_

_Evie carefully pulled the ribbon off the box and opened it up. She found a dark blue dress along with a matching diamond necklace and earrings set that looked nearly brand new._

_“Thank you, Mother.” She said, running her fingers over the fabric._

_“Go ahead, try them on. I want to see.”_

_Evie went into the other room and changed into the dress. It was a little tight and her stomach dropped. Her mother was going to be mad when she saw._

_But to her surprise, she just stood and smirked. “Come here, Genevieve.” She stuck her hand down the top of the dress, yanking it down so that some cleavage was showing. She ruffled up the bottom, making her legs look longer. “There we go.”_

_“Thank you, Mother.” Evie said, because she didn’t know what else to say. She didn’t like how much skin was showing and she was honestly surprised that her mother had chosen that dress._

_“That’s not all. I have an even bigger present.”_

_“I can’t accept any more, this is plenty.” Evie tried to tell her._

_Her mother actually laughed, and that’s when Evie felt her instincts go on high alert. Something wasn’t right._

_“I finally found you a prince!”_

_There it was. Evie felt like she could throw up right then and there. “What do you mean, Mother?”_

_“There’s been one hiding here on the Isle all along. You are too used up for the Auradon princes, but this one will do. His family has power and riches and he will help us.”_

_“Mother, I don’t understand.”_

_Her eyes squinted, scrutinizing the teenager. “What is there to understand, girl? You will be given to this prince and in exchange, he will supply me with everything I could ever want!” she practically shouted._

_“But what about school? What about making clothes and…”_

_Before Evie even had a second to react, her mother’s hand was around her neck and her back was slammed into the wall. “None of that matters now, you stupid little girl! You have failed the biggest lesson I ever tried to teach you. This union will help us, Genevieve. You will be his queen, and as his queen, it is your job to take care of him in any way he desires. He may take whatever he wants, whenever he wants, and there is nothing you can do to stop it because you will be his future wife. I will have what I want, and you will keep him happy so that he keeps providing me with the things I need. You will please him like all of your lessons have prepared you for. I have heard he has his mother’s mean streak, but I’m sure it’s nothing you can’t handle.”_

_“Mother.” Evie practically whispered._

_“Try and sneak off with that little girl now.” The Evil Queen smiled, showing off all of her teeth as she heard a noise outside. “Oh, that must be him now.”_

\-----

The calm moments were the best and the worst. Sometimes, Evie felt at peace when she was in Mal’s arms and the world was absolutely silent. Other times, the calm gave her too much time to think, too much time to spiral off into thoughts that she had no business worrying about. 

The past two weeks had been filled with a lot of calm moments, and honestly, it was unnerving. Ever since she and Mal got in a fight about her throwing up, Evie really had been trying. She didn’t ever want Mal to think she wasn’t worth all the time they had put into their relationship. So even though it hurt and it was a struggle every single day, she got up and ate all three meals and went to therapy. The Monday appointments where it was just her and Fairy Godmother weren’t terrible, but Evie absolutely dreaded the Wednesday appointments with both FG and Dr. Bren. 

It was nice that her weeks were usually filled with something to do. Monday and Wednesday was therapy and then she would go watch Mal and the boys at Tourney afterwards. Tuesday and Thursday was sewing club, and sometimes afterwards she went back to the dorm to sew and sometimes she went to Tourney. After practice was finished, they all went to dinner together and then went back to the dorms and relaxed. On Friday, she had been designing and working on new outfits. Jane, Lonnie, Audrey, and a few others girls had been begging for an Evie original, and she was happy to comply. At least it distracted her in this long phase of what felt like standing completely still. 

She still wasn’t over the conversation with Quinton. Evie had every intention of going back to the Isle sooner rather than later, with or without her friends. She understood their fears, but she was a big girl and she had to be able to handle herself. 

Those two weeks slowly dragged to an end, bringing the total up to six weeks. Six weeks they had spent in Auradon and while they were making progress, Evie felt like they didn’t have enough to show for it. 

Right now, Evie was laying on Mal’s chest in their bed. The steady thumping of Mal’s heartbeat was soothing, but as always, it was a 50/50 chance on if she would find peace or worries. 

“What are you thinking about?” Mal wondered, leaning down to kiss the top of her head. 

“Everything.” Evie admitted. 

“The weight of the world is too heavy to carry only on your shoulders, you know.” 

Evie smiled. “That’s funny coming from you.” 

Mal cracked a small smile. “I want us to be happy. Let’s talk about good things. We can take turns and name good things. You go first.” 

Evie didn’t even have to think before she spoke. “Us.” 

“That’s the best thing.” Mal agreed. “I’m gonna say showers.” 

“Bubble baths.” Evie chimed in. 

Mal stroked her hair. “Having enough of everything. Water, food, blankets, clothes.” 

“Tourney and sewing club. The Isle should create some outlets for kids to express themselves.” 

Mal snorted. “Yeah right, they would have to stop us from killing each other first.” Then she shook her head. “Happy thoughts, remember?”

“You’re the one who said something sad!” 

“You’re right.” Mal kissed her forehead. “You don’t jump when the bell rings anymore.” 

Evie hadn’t even realized, but Mal was right. “You don’t deny it when I say that you love art class anymore.” She countered. 

“Video games.” Mal added to the list. 

“So many different materials for my designs.” 

“Same, but for my artwork.” 

“Being respected.” Evie said quietly. “Telling when something is wrong and having consequences actually happen to that person.” 

“Your smile and your laugh.” Mal stroked her cheek. 

“Your dimple, and don’t say you don’t have one because I see your face more than you do.” 

Mal laughed. “You’re not wrong.” She pulled Evie up and kissed her on the lips. “See? Isn’t this so much better than worrying?” 

Evie nodded. “I guess I didn’t realize how much good has come from Auradon.” 

“That’s because you’re letting yourself worry too much. Trust me, E, I didn’t think things would take so long either. I know you’re getting antsy, but we’ll get there. We can’t mess this up.” 

“I know.” Evie laid her head back down on Mal’s chest. 

The door busted open, making both of them jump up in alarm. Jay laughed hysterically in the doorway while Carlos rolled his eyes. 

“You should have seen your faces.” 

“You’re lucky I didn’t put a spell on you.” Mal grumbled, wrapping her arms around Evie and pulling her back down. 

“Yeah, like you could do that, Miss Magical Control.” 

“FG is actually going through some spells with me, and regardless of that, I can still cast a spell even without permission.” She rubbed her fingers together, causing green fire to bounce from her fingertips. 

Evie rolled her eyes and grabbed Mal’s hand, causing her to instantly extinguish the flames. “Quit showing off.” 

“You guys need to get dressed.” Carlos said. “Ben wants to see us.” 

Evie didn’t like the sound of that. Sure, Ben had proven himself to be an ally, but she couldn’t believe that he was calling them all to his office just to ask about their weekend plans. 

The girls got dressed quickly, then Mal and the boys sat in the bathroom with Evie while she went through her usual makeup routine. It was already mid-afternoon, so it was a little late in the day for Evie to get completely ready, but she refused to leave the dorm without looking perfect. She knew they didn’t exactly approve of it, but they understood and did their best to support her. 

“What do you think he wants?” Mal questioned. 

“I don’t know, he passed us in the cafeteria and asked if we could grab you two and come to his office.” Jay informed her. “It didn’t sound like there was an emergency or anything. Maybe he just wants to chat.”

“No one ever ‘just wants to chat’ with us.” Mal argued. 

Evie finished her last curl, then looked herself over in the mirror to be sure everything was perfect. “I’m ready.” 

“So pretty.” Mal said before pressing a gentle kiss against her cheek. The two of them linked hands and led the way out of the dorm room. 

The walk to Ben’s office was nice and filled with light conversation. Evie was already worried about what Ben might say, so she was grateful that her friends didn’t spend the whole time running over possible scenarios. 

Mal, always the leader, stepped forward and knocked on the office door. They heard Ben’s voice tell them to come in, so she pushed the door open. Ben was sitting at a round table with four extra chairs pulled up to it. 

Evie waited for Mal to choose a seat first and noticed immediately that she took one of the spots next to Ben. Predictably, Jay took the other, leaving Evie and Carlos sitting only next to members of their crew while also being the closest to the door. No matter how long they spent in Auradon, Isle habits always crept back up. 

“I wanted to start this conversation with you all before I bring it up to anyone else on my council.” Ben began. “As you know, the four of you were the first students brought over with the VK Exchange Program. It is my intention to expand this even further and if it’s possible, I would like to have your advice on the matter.” 

“No one on your council is going to listen to what we have to say.” Mal instantly dug through his statement, pulling out the biggest issue. 

“They’re going to have to. The fact of the matter is that Auradon is grossly unaware of what happens on the Isle of the Lost, me included. Can I be honest?”

“We would expect nothing but honesty.” Evie informed him. 

“I got lucky with you all. I went through a list of known Isle children and I picked out the descendants of the four worst villains I could think of.” Ben smiled. “I didn’t know how else to make this happen, so I just chose the kids with the worst parents because I figured if I could help you, I could help anyone. Now that you’re here, I’m seeing how stupid of a plan that was.” 

Jay scoffed. “Yeah, that’s pretty dumb.” 

“Jay!” Evie scolded. 

“What? He said it first.” 

“I can’t just make blind choices anymore. Even with just the little bit I know about each of you, I know you’ve been through a lot. I am so lucky to have been able to get the four kids who I truly believed needed my help the most.” 

Evie was surprised. This conversation seemed to be leaning towards Ben regretting that he brought them over and had to deal with their problems. He was actually happy about that? 

“I want to expand the VK Exchange Program as soon as possible. I need your help on figuring out who needs to be brought to Auradon the most. To be honest, I’m not even sure how many kids are on the Isle. There used to be a record, but it seems like it stopped about five years after the Isle of the Lost was created.” 

“So what do you need from us?” Mal questioned. 

“First, I need information. I want to compile a list of who all lives on the Isle, and I especially want to focus on the children. My long-term plan is to first help all of the children, but then I want to reform the Isle completely and make it more livable for everyone.”

“Big aspirations.” Evie commented. 

“Yeah, that’s what everyone here thinks. But even if some of them are villains, they still deserve to have their basic human needs met. I can’t fathom the idea that there are people living there without enough food.” 

“Or heat, or running water…” Mal threw in. 

“Or education…” Carlos added. 

“Or clothes…” Jay stated. 

“Or medical supplies, rules, separation of the most dangerous villains from the less threatening ones, protection for children…” Evie listed. 

“Okay, okay, I know.” Ben interrupted. “There is so much work to do. But let’s start with what I called you here for today. If you were able to bring over a couple more VKs, who would you choose?”

“It’s not that easy.” Mal said with a shake of her head. Evie agreed; the dynamics on the Isle were so complicated that they wouldn’t be able to just sneak in and steal their top choices.

“Can you try and explain it to me?” Ben wondered. 

“The person in power right now would be one of our first choices, but if she leaves, every other kid there is doomed.” Mal explained. 

“I thought you said Maleficent controls the Isle?”

“She does, but it’s complicated. There are different territories, and our first choice is in power of a large territory.” 

“But if this person is a child, how are they in power?”

“How are you sixteen and about to become King of Auradon?” Evie countered. 

“Fair point. I guess I just don’t get how that would affect all the other kids.”

“Territory is shared on the Isle.” Evie decided they could at least give him some basic information to start with. She definitely intended on being involved with whatever Ben would let her in regards to the Isle, so maybe this would help. “That is the main thing everyone is fighting over. Different crews run different territories, and you have to go through them if you need to go somewhere or get something that is part of their territory.”

“What crew were you guys part of?” 

“We are our own crew.” Mal told him. “We had control of a lot of the Isle, which is why things got a little tense after we left.” She referred to the conversation they had with Ben after the video chat, hoping he remembered what she was talking about. 

“This other girl, she is part of a different crew?” 

“Yes, but she became an ally.” Mal said. “If anyone needs to get off the Isle and come here, it’s her. But if she goes, now that we’re gone, that only leaves one major crew to take over everything.” 

“And if that crew takes over, they won’t be helpful to the other kids?” Ben finally understood. 

“Exactly.” Carlos stated, though ‘helpful’ was a definite understatement. 

Ben nodded his understanding. “So how do we avoid that?”

Jay shrugged. “I think the best thing to do would be to bring as many kids over at one time as possible to avoid the Isle backlash, but Auradon would never agree to that.” 

“It would be difficult to pull that off.” Ben agreed. “But maybe not impossible. Thank you all so much for explaining this stuff to me. I hope you’ll consider being on some type of Isle council with me.” 

“We would love to.” Evie told him. She didn’t know if that was coming on too strong, but she needed him to know that they wanted to be involved. 

“I’ll try and set up a meeting time for next week where maybe we can start getting together a list of children. I’ll let you know.” 

“Thank you, Ben. You really are going to make a difference on the Isle.” Evie said. 

Ben smiled proudly. “So Audrey and I were talking about going out to eat in a little bit, and then maybe bowling. Would you guys want to come with us?” 

“We can’t, it’s nap time.” Mal said as she stood, reaching out to grab Evie’s hand. The blue haired girl stood without hesitation; a nap sounded great right now. 

Ben laughed. “You can join us after, if you want.” 

Carlos rolled his eyes. “You don’t get it. They don’t just get into bed, sleep for an hour, then get up and do something.” 

“First, they start whispering to each other, then they finally fall asleep and they’re dead to the world for like two hours, and then when they wake up, they just stare at each other for forever. It’s ridiculous.” Jay teased. 

“I don’t understand why our naps bother you guys so much.” Mal said.

Evie smiled. “Are you jealous? Do you need some cuddles too?” she went towards Jay, holding her arms out. 

Ben laughed. “Well Carlos and Jay, if you’re not napping, feel free to join. Girls, if you end up feeling like doing something, the offer still stands.”

“Thank you, Ben.” Evie went back over to Mal and held her hand again.

“We’ll go.” Jay said for himself and Carlos.

“Great! Meet us in the lobby in an hour.”

“See you later.” Mal led the way out.

“You’re really not going to go?” Jay questioned as he walked faster to catch up with them. 

“Hmmm…go out and socialize, or cuddle with my incredibly hot girlfriend. The choice is pretty easy.” Mal told him. 

“You’re boring.” 

Mal completely ignored him, instead wrapping her arm around Evie’s waist and pulling her closer. She just leaned into her and stayed quiet. They called their goodbyes to the boys as they went to their separate dorms. 

As soon as Mal held Evie in her arms and she felt the calmness and safety wash over her, she knew she made the right decision. 

\-----

Everyone took their time getting down to breakfast on the weekends. Mal and Evie didn’t always go (sometimes they slept in too late and the boys had to drop something off for them), but they were trying to be better about staying on a routine. Mal thought consistency would be best for Evie’s eating habits right now, so they were awake, dressed, and in the cafeteria by 10am. 

Audrey, Jay, and Carlos were already sitting at their usual table. Mal and Evie walked through the breakfast line and chose food- eggs, bacon, toast, and a cinnamon roll for Mal, and scrambled eggs and fruit for Evie. Eggs wasn’t one of Evie’s usual options, but Mal was working on expanding the list of foods that Evie would eat. 

“Morning.” Carlos greeted when he saw them come over. He was next to Audrey with Jay across from them. Evie took the seat next to Jay, and Mal sat on her other side. 

“Good morning.” Evie replied with a smile. Mal was happy that she had woken up in a good mood and she was hoping to keep it going for as long as possible. 

They talked about classes, Tourney, and sewing club as they ate. Mal tore into her own food, keeping an eye on Evie to make sure she was taking bites. 

“How are the eggs?” she asked after she noticed Evie eat a little bit of them. 

Evie shrugged. “They’re okay. I don’t love them, but I don’t hate them.” 

“Try adding a little salt and pepper.” Audrey suggested, pushing the shakers over towards the blue haired girl. 

Mal watched as she lifted the shakers, pouring a little bit of seasoning onto her eggs. Evie swirled it around for a moment, then took another bite. 

“That’s better.” She said in surprise. 

“Really?” Mal reached out and grabbed the salt and pepper shakers to add some to her own eggs. When she took a bite, she nodded in agreement. “You’re right.” 

“I’ve got to get back to my room and finish my English homework.” Audrey announced as she stood up and started to gather her things. “Hey Evie, I was thinking of going into town to shop in a few hours. Would you want to come with me? It would be the perfect opportunity for you to help me pick out some material for the new dress you’re making me.” 

Mal waited to hear her girlfriend’s reaction. Evie smiled. “Can I text you and let you know? I have some homework to catch up on, so I can get started on it and see how long it’ll take me.”

“Yeah that’s fine, just let me know! See you guys later.” Audrey left the four of them alone. 

As soon as she was gone, Evie turned to Mal with the puppy dog eyes. “M…” 

“No.” Mal answered instantly, then continued cutting up her food as if it was no big deal. 

“You didn’t even think about it!” Evie argued. 

“I don’t want you going off without any of us. I don’t care if Audrey is nice to you now, I don’t trust her to keep you safe.”

“I can keep myself safe.” 

“E, we’ve only left Auradon Prep a couple times, and that’s when we were all four together. What if something happens? I don’t want you that far from me.” 

“Nothing is going to happen. It’s just shopping, it’ll only take a few hours. I’ll be careful and pay attention. I lived on the Isle for sixteen years; I think I can handle myself in an Auradon shopping center.” 

“Are you going to finish your breakfast?” Mal wondered. 

Evie sighed. “I have to pee. As soon as I get back, we’re talking about this some more.” She got up and went to the bathroom. 

Mal kept on eating, but she felt like someone was burning a hole in the side of her head. She looked up, noticing that Carlos and Jay were staring. “What?” she asked around a mouthful of bacon. 

“Aren’t you being a little harsh?” Carlos questioned. 

“No. We don’t separate. That’s always been one of our rules.” 

“But she really wants to go.” 

“You need to let her breathe and go have some fun.” Jay joined in. “No offense, but I don’t know how Evie deals with you constantly smothering her.”

“Me!? You guys are just as bad as I am!” 

“You can’t expect her to step out of her comfort zone and do things differently if you’re not willing to do the same.” Carlos said wisely. 

“If she’s going, then I’m going.” Mal countered. 

Jay raised an eyebrow. “That’s funny, it didn’t sound like you were invited.” 

“I have a fucking right to go anywhere my princess goes.” 

“Mal, you need to back off.” Carlos interrupted before the two of them could start arguing. “Audrey has proven she can be trusted, and Evie deserves to go have fun. She’s been through so much lately.”

Mal sighed. She wanted Evie to be able to go off and shop and spend time with someone who may possibly be a friend to her, but she hated having to trust anyone else with her girlfriend’s safety. 

Evie came back over and gracefully sat back in her seat. She ate a piece of her fruit, then smiling charmingly at Mal. She batted her eyelashes, which Mal swore were darker than when she had left, and pouted her bottom lip. 

“Please, M?” she asked, her voice as smooth as silk. “I just want to be normal for a little while. I know how much you hate shopping, even if you pretend you don’t care because you know I love it. Audrey is my friend and I want to go hang out with her.” She bit her lip and looked down at the table. “If you really don’t want me to, then I guess I can stay home. But I really want to go.” 

Mal stood her ground for about half a second before finally giving in. She leaned in and pressed a kiss against Evie’s cheek, then pulled her in for a hug. “You know, it’s really becoming a problem that I can never say no to you.” 

Evie’s eyes lit up and she started to smile. “I can go?”

“Baby, I’m sorry I’ve made you feel like you need my permission to do things. Thank you for always asking me about stuff like this. If you trust Audrey and you think you’ll be okay, then go have fun.” 

Evie nodded enthusiastically. “I do. I’ll even text you when we get there and before we leave, okay?” 

“Okay.” Mal agreed before giving her a quick kiss. “Now eat your breakfast.” 

Evie ate more than half of her food before finally saying she was full. Mal knew the weekends were a little harder for her when it came to eating. During the week, the bell would ring, cutting off the meal and allowing her to leave without finishing. But on the weekend, there was no bell, so Evie had to make the choice on her own of when she had eaten an acceptable amount of food. 

Carlos and Evie walked together to throw away trash while Mal cleaned up the table. She noticed Jay smirking and gave him a dirty look. 

“Is there a reason why you’re just staring and not helping?”

“You gave in pretty easily.” 

“Yeah, well Evie has been unhappy enough to last a lifetime. I can’t stand the idea of her being unhappy ever again, especially if it’s because of something I did. I have to start trusting her to take care of herself.” 

“So you’re not going to sneak there and spy on her to make sure she’s safe?” 

Mal laughed. The thought had definitely crossed her mind, but she knew she had to do what was best. “I trust her.” 

\-----

Evie was surprised by how easily conversation flowed with Audrey. The two girls had a lot in common, so it helped prevent any awkward moments from creeping up. Evie never would have imagined the first person to be rude to her when she came to Auradon would end up becoming her friend. 

“Alright, so I have to ask.” Audrey said as they walked through the mall. “What’s the deal with you and Mal?”

Evie frowned. “What do you mean? You know we’re together.” 

“Yeah, but can I get some details? How long have you been together? How did you know you liked girls? Your relationship is honestly fascinating to me. There’s nothing like you guys in Auradon.”

“What, two girls in a relationship?”

“Well yeah, but not even just that. You two are so connected, it’s kind of freaky.” 

Evie laughed. “We’ve known each other since we were six, so we’ve had a lot of time to get comfortable. We actually acknowledged our relationship when we were 12, but it’s always been us.”

“So you’ve always known you liked girls?” 

“Honestly, I don’t know. I just always knew I liked Mal. There have been other girls and other guys that I thought were attractive, but it didn’t matter because they’re not Mal.” 

“Have you ever dated anyone else?” 

“Nope.” 

“That’s so sweet!” Audrey gushed. “I love how possessive over you she is. Sometimes I wish Ben was a little more like that.” 

Evie smirked. “Yeah, the possessiveness is nice sometimes, but it can be a little overbearing.” 

“I think it’s cute that she’s protective. I’m just saying, it’s obvious how much you mean to her.” 

Evie smiled, knowing she would have to tell Mal that later. The purple haired girl would love to know that her protectiveness isn’t going unnoticed. “Enough about us. What about you and Ben?” 

Audrey got a shy little smile on her face that made Evie wonder if she looked the same when people talked to her about Mal. “Our mothers are close friends, and we’ve known each other as long as we’ve been born. We are practically betrothed.” 

“But you love Ben, right?” Evie had seen Audrey and Ben and it seemed like they had more of a connection that just being betrothed. 

“Of course. He was my first friend, and we spent practically our entire childhood together. We were castle schooled together for years.” 

Evie looked at her in surprise. “You didn’t always go to actual school?”

“I don’t know how it works on the Isle, but in Auradon, you have a couple different options for school. When kids are really little, from like kindergarten up until 5th grade, they can go to Auradon Elementary. It’s still a boarding school, like Auradon Prep, but the rules are a little different. You know we have to live at Auradon Prep in order to go to school here, and we can go home on the weekends. When kids go to Auradon Elementary, they can do that, or there is the option of their parents moving here with them and the whole family stays in a cottage together, or they can have a different type of school schedule where the kids only stay here for four days out of the week, then go home for three days. If parents don’t like that option, then they can castle school their own children. Our parents weren’t big on the idea of sending us off to live on our own, and they all had kingdoms to rule, so Queen Belle decided to castle school us herself. We all had our own private rooms in King Adam and Queen Belle’s castle and she would take care of us and allow our families to come visit anytime, or we could go home. It was me, Ben, Jane, and Chad.” 

As soon as Audrey said Chad’s name, she got visibly uncomfortable. Evie noticed the abrupt change and felt her stomach start to bubble. Audrey had been raised with Chad and because of her, he was sent away. 

“I’m sorry.” Evie said quietly. 

“What?” Audrey asked. 

“Are you upset with me for what happened with Chad?” she couldn’t help but ask. 

“What?” Audrey’s mouth fell open. 

“I know he was your friend and you grew up together and…” 

“…and he tried to hurt you.” Audrey interrupted. “I don’t care how long you’ve known a person, that is never okay. Evie, I know I judged you after you came here, but I would never be mad at you for telling when someone hurts you. He was always a little too touchy, but we always thought it was just part of his eccentric personality.” She shook her head in disbelief. “As far as I know, he never tried that with any Auradon girls, because if he did, Ben and I would have had his ass handed to him. Do not ever doubt yourself for that situation.” 

Evie nodded her head and gave her a small smile. “Thank you for believing me.” 

“Thank you for being brave enough to tell the truth. What if he hurt another girl the way he tried to hurt you? I don’t care that I’ve known him since I was a kid; he was wrong, Evie. You don’t deserve that.” 

Evie bit her lip, trying desperately to keep back the tears. Her heart soared at the fact that someone (outside of her group of friends) finally cared enough to believe her, and that something had actually been done about it.

“Alright, enough of the heavy talk.” Audrey gave her a mischievous grin. “How about we go look at materials while you tell me some more about how Mal leaves hickeys all over your neck?” 

\-----

Audrey would have never in a million years imagined that she would spend her entire afternoon shopping with a VK. She could remember all the days of their childhood where she and Ben would sit on his balcony and he would stare at the Isle of the Lost, rambling about how he wanted to go there. Audrey never understood; her mom and dad told her there were bad people there, and she didn’t know why Ben would want to meet bad people. 

She was seven when she found out that Maleficent, the woman who spelled her mother into a long sleep, had a child the same age as her. She had seen her grandmother cry over lost time with her mom too many times to believe that Maleficent’s daughter wasn’t just as evil as her. If she was evil, then she deserved to be locked up there. 

Each year that they got older, Ben became more and more passionate about the Isle. Audrey listened like a good girlfriend, but she never thought it would actually happen. She had been absolutely shocked when Ben ran to her in the middle of the night, yelling that the council had finally approved for the VK Exchange Program to be created. 

When Ben told her family that Maleficent’s daughter was one of the children being brought over, her mother had cried and her father yelled. Audrey stood beside them, wondering how Ben could possibly betray her by bringing her, of all people. 

As soon as she saw the four teenagers step out of the limo, she knew there was something different about them. They all stood so close to each other and looked so defensive, as if they would attack anyone who came near. Her eyes landed on Evie and right away, Audrey knew the boys would be all over her. Of course Audrey loved Ben, but she admired the attention she received from others. She had been cruel to Evie in retaliation for her stealing away everyone that had always adored her. 

But now that Audrey had spent her day with Evie, watching her talk and smile and laugh and act like a normal teenager, she felt like even more of a bitch. The more Evie spoke about Mal, the more obvious it became that she was head over heels in love with the purple haired girl whose existence Audrey had been taught to hate from the beginning. The same girl who she had watched hug, kiss, cuddle, and love on Evie without a single care in the world. 

Now, Audrey didn’t understand how people could hold hate in their heart for someone that they had never met. She didn’t understand why there was any doubt that the VK Exchange Program needing to be expanded. 

“Are you sure it’s cool with Mal if I come over?” Audrey asked Evie as they walked through the halls of the dorm. Audrey’s room was on the next floor up, but Evie had offered to show her a sketch she was working on and Audrey wasn’t going to pass that up. The blue haired girl had so much talent and Audrey sincerely hoped that she would be able to become a famous fashion designer one day. 

“She won’t care.” Evie reassured her.

They got to Evie and Mal’s dorm room door. As soon as Evie lifted her hand to unlock it, the door was quickly pulled open. Audrey saw Mal standing on the other side. 

Audrey was still a little unsettled by how piercing Mal’s green eyes were, especially after seeing them glow. The other girl was shorter than her, but she was still intimidating. Mal was silent as she stood in front of them, her eyes scanning over Evie. Audrey looked at Evie for her reaction, but the other girl just rolled her eyes and continued to be stared at. Audrey got the impression that Mal was searching her for some kind of injury. 

After a moment, Mal gave one quick nod and then a small smile. “Did you have fun?” she questioned. 

“Yes, it was great.” Evie told her. She was holding a couple of bags in her hands and Audrey nearly swooned when Mal reached out to take them. She stepped aside so they could come in. 

Evie led the way over to her desk, which had a sewing machine, her sketch book, and various materials laid out over top of it. Audrey heard conversation and glanced over, seeing that Jay, Carlos, and surprisingly Lonnie were sitting on the couches. They each had a controller in their hand and there was a paused video game on the screen. 

“Look at you!” Evie praised. “Branching out and inviting a friend over.” 

Audrey snorted. “Yeah, I doubt Lonnie was invited. She kind of has a habit of making herself at home wherever she goes.” 

Mal laughed softly. “That’s exactly what happened.” Audrey watched as she came up behind Evie, wrapping her arms around her waist and pulling her into her chest. Evie sighed and immediately leaned into her. “I missed you.” Mal gave her a quick kiss on the neck. “What did you buy?” 

“Mal, can you get off Evie’s ass and come back so we can start the game?” Jay shouted from the couch. Audrey had been spending more time with the VKs, but she didn’t think she would ever get used to Jay’s brashness. 

“Can you shut the fuck up and go play in your own room if you’re so upset?” Mal snapped back immediately. 

Jay started to mumble about being disrespected, but Audrey couldn’t take her eyes off of the two girls. Evie began to pull different materials that she had purchased with money she made from making clothes for others out of her bags. Mal listened with full attention to every word Evie said as she showed off each fabric and then described what she was going to do with it and who it was for. Mal would smile every single time Evie smiled or laughed, and Audrey felt like she might explode from the cuteness. 

She couldn’t believe she had ever been scared of someone who was so soft and loving around her girlfriend. When Audrey saw how gentle Mal was with Evie, she had a hard time believing that she had ever done anything to deserve the life she grew up with on the Isle. 

Evie pulled out a dark purple fabric, running her fingers over it gently to smooth out the wrinkles. “I got this for you. I’m going to make you a scarf, gloves, and a hat for when it starts to get colder outside.” 

Mal kissed her shoulder. “Thank you, baby, but what did you get for you?”

As they were shopping, Audrey had noticed that Evie didn’t choose any materials for herself. She skimmed her fingers over various shades of blue, staring at some longingly but putting them down in exchange for another because “Jay needs a new hat” or “Carlos is growing out of his pants”. 

Evie shrugged at Mal’s question. “I don’t need anything right now.” 

Audrey smiled. “Yeah, about that.” She dug into one of her own bags, pulling out a blue fabric that she had seen Evie circle back to multiple times. “I know you said you didn’t need it, but you couldn’t stop staring at this and I wanted you to have it.” 

“Audrey, no. This costs way too much. I can’t take it.” Evie immediately rejected, shaking her head and refusing to grab it from her. 

“Well unfortunately, I can’t return it and I don’t look as good in blue as you do, so you’re going to have to.” Audrey held it out and raised an eyebrow expectantly. 

Evie finally gave in and took the fabric. As soon as it was in her hands, she squealed and leaned forward, pulling Audrey into her arms. 

She was surprised; that was the first time Evie had ever initiated physical contact with her, and the first time she saw her hug someone other than Mal or the boys. She squeezed back tightly, her eye meeting Mal’s over Evie’s shoulder. 

“Thank you.” Mal mouthed. 

“You’re welcome.” Audrey mouthed back. Her phone vibrated and Evie pulled back, turning towards Mal and started to ramble about what she wanted to make. Audrey checked her phone and saw that it was her boyfriend. “Hey Benny-boo.” 

“Hey. I just got out of my meeting and I wanted to see if you were free.”

“I’m over at Evie and Mal’s right now.”

“Oh really? That’s good!” 

“Is that Ben?” Evie asked, earning a nod from the brunette. “Tell him to come hang out.”

“Evie wants to know if you want to come over too.” 

“Yeah! Sure! That would be great!” Audrey couldn’t help but laugh at the excitement in Ben’s voice. He wanted nothing more than to be friends with the VKs. “Let me change and I’ll be right over!” 

“See you soon.” Audrey hung up. 

“He’s coming?” Mal assumed. 

“Yeah, he should be here in a few minutes.” 

“When Ben gets here, you guys should go down and get dinner.” Mal said, turning towards Jay and Carlos. 

“Okay.” Carlos agreed. “What are you thinking for tonight? Movie night, or video games?” 

Mal shrugged. “Whatever everyone wants to do.” 

Ben got to the dorm quickly and greeted Audrey with a kiss. “How are you? Are you having fun? Did they invite you over? Are they…”

“Honey, calm down.” Audrey whispered with a laugh. “It’s not a big deal. You and the boys are going to get dinner and then we’ll all just hang out. Play it cool.”

“Sorry, it’s just that this has been my dream for so long. I can’t believe they actually want to hang out.” 

Audrey just hugged her adorable boyfriend again. She was so grateful that his dreams were finally coming true. 

\-----

After the boys left, Evie handed over her sketch book to Audrey and Lonnie. The two girls huddled together on the floor by the couch, studying each of her designs. Mal could tell Evie was ecstatic; the Auradon girls had never had a negative thing to say about anything she created. 

“C’mere.” Mal said from where she sat on the couch, reaching a hand out to Evie. The blue haired girl didn’t hesitate before walking over and sitting down on Mal’s lap. She cuddled into her chest, resting her head on her shoulder, and then let out a comfortable sigh. Mal knew that that was Evie’s absolute favorite place in the world to be, and it was perfect because it was Mal’s favorite place too. 

Mal grabbed her sketch book and laid it on Evie’s lap. She began to draw, letting the pencil scratch against the paper as her ideas flowed. It only took her a moment to realize that what she was drawing was Evie, and she took her time drawing her girlfriend’s beautiful features. 

She glanced down at Evie, seeing that her eyes were half shut and her lips were slightly pouted in the way that told Mal she was tired. She kissed her forehead. “Do you want me to have Jay and Carlos take everyone back to their dorm so you can sleep?” she whispered. 

“No.” Evie objected. “I’m having fun. I just need to rest my eyes for a minute.” She shut her eyes and nuzzled closer to Mal’s neck. 

“Are you hungry at all?” 

Evie sighed. “No, but that doesn’t really matter. I need to eat so I can be healthy.” 

Mal couldn’t stop the huge smile from breaking out on her face. “You’re so fucking incredible, Pretty Girl.”

“Hey Evie, do you think you could make something like this for me?” Lonnie interrupted, plopping down on the couch next to them. Mal looked at her in curiosity; she thought Lonnie was okay, but she didn’t have much of a concept of boundaries or personal space. 

Evie sat up, but still stayed on Mal’s lap. Mal continued to work as Evie explained the design to Audrey and Lonnie, along with what she needed for it and some of her other ideas to go with it. 

The door opened up and Ben, Carlos, and Jay reentered, their arms full of to-go boxes. They spread everything out on Mal’s desk, which was empty besides a couple of her colored pencils.

“Dinner is served.” Jay announced. He stepped back and though he didn’t say anything, Mal knew it was because he was letting Evie get up there first. 

“Go pick something.” Mal urged her. Audrey and Lonnie went over to the food and even though Evie wasn’t very enthusiastic, she joined them. Mal stood off to the side, waiting until Evie was finished. 

“Ladies first, Mal.” Ben offered. 

“I’m going to wait a minute.” Mal told him. “They can pick first.”

Evie came over to her a minute later, her expression panicked. “I don’t know what to get.” She whispered, trying not to draw the attention of the others in the room. 

Mal grabbed her hand and pulled her back over towards the food. She scanned over the items, looking for something that she could talk her girlfriend into eating. Everything that was laid out looked greasy, which Evie had been adamant about avoiding. She didn’t see any fruit, vegetables, salad, or yogurt. There wasn’t even macaroni and cheese or mashed potatoes. 

Mal went over to Jay, yanking his arm and pulling him over to the side of the room. “What the fuck did you get for Evie? Looking at what’s sitting there, it seems like you didn’t think of her at all.”

“Sorry, they didn’t have any fruit or yogurt or salad left when we got down there. I got pizza though, I know it’s not her favorite, but she eats it sometimes.” 

Mal sighed. Of course when Evie was actually willing to eat and understanding why she needed to, there wouldn’t be anything for her to enjoy. Mal went back to the food and grabbed a plate, putting a small slice of pizza on it. She went back over to her girlfriend, who was biting her lip uncomfortably. 

“Jay said they didn’t have any of your normal stuff. How about you try a piece of pizza?” 

Evie shook her head. “I really don’t want to, M.” 

“I know. I’m sorry, baby, but there’s not a better option.” 

“It’s greasy. It’s going to make my stomach hurt.” 

“Just eat slow and drink some water with it.” Mal pleaded. “Come on, E. Please.” 

“What’s going on?” they both glanced over, seeing that Ben was standing next to them now. Mal did a quick sweep of the room; Lonnie, Audrey, Carlos, and Jay had their food and they were sitting on the couches. 

Mal didn’t want to give him any information, but she knew he could help. She didn’t like asking for favors, but this was Evie. She had to consider her options here. 

“So, uh, you know that E has a hard time with food sometimes.” Mal began awkwardly, earning a glare from her girlfriend. “There’s nothing here that she likes.” 

Ben looked at them in surprise, though she wasn’t sure if it was because she was talking to him about this, or because Evie didn’t like the foods typical teenagers practically devoured. “Really? Evie, is there something specific you want? I can call down to the cafeteria right now and have it brought up.” 

Predictably, Evie shook her head. Mal knew that she hated when people went out of their way for her. “I don’t want you to go to any special trouble.” 

Ben smiled reassuringly. “It’s no trouble if it will get you to eat. If there’s something you are willing to have, then I will stop at nothing to give it to you.” 

Mal stepped in, grabbing Evie’s hand and squeezing. “What do you want, babe?” Evie looked at her in nervousness, biting her lip. “Macaroni and cheese? Or what about some toast?” Evie shook her head no. Mal kept gently prodding, but it was difficult. Most of the time, Mal was still choosing Evie’s meals for her, so she hated having to put Evie on the spot and make her think of something on her own. “Did you eat anything at the mall?”

“No.” 

“Then you haven’t eaten since breakfast. How about a salad, fruit, and milk?” 

Evie instantly pouted. “No milk, M. Please.” 

Mal smiled. “Chocolate milk or white?” 

Evie was still pouting, but Mal refused to give in. She knew her girl needed some extra calories since she skipped lunch, and adding milk seemed to be a solid way to do that. Finally, she realized she wasn’t going to budge. “I guess chocolate.” 

“I’ll call down right now.” Ben said, hurrying over to grab his phone. 

Mal pulled Evie into her arms, noticing how tense she was immediately. “Fucking incredible.” She repeated her statement from earlier, then started to press kisses all over her face. She continued until Evie finally giggled and relaxed into her arms. 

Mal realized that the others were all staring at them, but she didn’t feel like explaining. Evie’s eating was none of their business and she was just happy that her girl was smiling again. 

While they waited, Mal went over to the desk and grabbed a few other things to eat. She kept the plate of pizza that she had originally gotten for Evie and added some chicken wings and nachos. It only took a minute before someone was knocking on the door. 

Mal set her plate down and went to answer it. One of the ladies who worked in the cafeteria was standing outside. “Delivery for Miss Evie?”

“Thanks.” Mal said, grabbing the plate and going back in. She didn’t realize until the door was shut how natural it was becoming to use her manners. She went over to where the others were sitting. Evie was between Carlos and Audrey and Mal passed her the food without another word. 

“Thanks, M.” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal gave her a look, hoping she understood that she actually expected her to eat the food. 

She went back over to grab her own plate. Ben was just now making his plate and when he saw her coming, he lowered his voice. “If you make me a list of foods you know Evie will eat, I can have it sent to the cafeteria so that it’s always available. I know you all don’t like special treatment, but if it helps her eat, then we can do it.” 

“Thank you, Ben.” Mal nodded at him. “Seriously, it might not seem like a lot to you, but this…it’s important.” 

Ben smiled and glanced over to the others. Mal’s eyes were immediately drawn to Evie, who was talking and laughing with their friends as if she had no care in the world. “You know, I can see why your entire world revolves around her. She’s pretty special.” 

Mal couldn’t help but smile back. “She’s everything.”


	23. Solutions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Warning- sensitive subjects. Isn't this whole story kind of a sensitive subject by now? You guys know what to expect! 
> 
> There were so many beautiful comments left on the last chapter. Thank you all so much for giving me your feedback, telling me your theories, and helping me to create this monster of a story! I read every single comment with a smile and I truly appreciate each and every one!

_Evie had never been so sore, and that was saying a lot considering all that she had been through. She had been through this more times than she could count, but she had never felt so disgusting in her entire life._

_She didn’t want to go to the hideout. All she could think about was going to one of the docks and throwing herself into the ocean. She didn’t know how to swim, so it wouldn’t take long before she just sank beneath the water and escaped from the pain._

_But as much as Evie wanted that, she knew it wasn’t fair. She had been missing for days now; she wasn’t sure how many because they had all started to blend together. She knew that Mal and the boys were probably worried sick._

_Evie wished they didn’t worry so much about her. Maybe it was her fault. She needed to start phasing herself out of their lives so that they would eventually stop worrying. She didn’t want them to still think about her after she was gone._

_She got to the hideout just as the sun was setting. Evie was happy that she hadn’t seen anyone she knew on the walk over here, though she was pretty sure they wouldn’t have recognized her even if she did. She actually hit the sign on the first try._

_As soon as she walked in, she heard Mal’s voice. “E?”_

_Evie bit her lip as she held on tightly to the railing. She did her best to move up the stairs, but she was so tired. She only made it a couple steps. “Mal?”_

_Seconds later, her girlfriend was next to her. Evie lifted her head slowly and as soon as Mal saw her face, her eyes started to glow._

_“Evie…”_

_“I know.” Evie whispered. “It’s bad. Please just help me get upstairs.”_

_Mal scooped her up effortlessly and carried her upstairs. The boys were both standing, obviously waiting to see her. Evie could feel the anger radiating off of them once they saw her._

_“Sit.” Mal commanded, pointing towards Jay and Carlos. They both did what she said without hesitation; after Evie had attacked Jay, they had gotten much better at listening to Mal’s orders when it came to Evie._

_Evie almost wished she was out of it. There had been times where she stumbled to the hideout after being locked in her castle for days and her friends would take care of her while she slipped in and out of consciousness. There were times where Jay would sneak into her room at the castle and carry her all the way back here and Evie would wake up, confused but feeling safe. Right now, she was fully aware of everything that had happened. The pity in her friends’ faces made her stomach ache._

_“How long was I gone?” Evie questioned._

_“A week.” Mal answered. “You seem…calm.”_

_Evie smiled sadly. “I think it’s time.”_

_“Time for what?” Carlos asked._

_“Time for me to go. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to.”_

_Evie would never forget the heartbroken look on Mal’s face, or the overwhelming anger on Jay’s, or the tears that instantly slid down Carlos’s cheeks. She couldn’t look at them anymore, it hurt too much. She leaned her head against the back of the couch and stared at the wall._

_“No.” Mal said. “You don’t get to talk like that. You don’t get to be selfish, Evie.”_

_“Why not?” Evie wondered. She sat up so she could look at her girlfriend, ignoring how badly it hurt her entire body to move. “I always have to do what other people want me to do. I have to be skinny and pretty and I have to fuck whatever guy my mother brings into my bedroom. What about what I want, Mal!? What if I just want to go to sleep and never wake up again?”_

_“Then you would be a coward.”_

_“I don’t care anymore. My life is over, do you not understand that? I will never, ever get away from her and now…” Evie trailed off, biting down on her lip. It stung instantly because of how raw her skin was, but she didn’t care. “Now…”_

_“Now what?” Mal asked._

_Evie didn’t want to tell her. She didn’t want any of them to know. There was nothing they could do to change it anyway. “Nothing.”_

_“What happened, baby?” Mal practically whispered. She reached out, stroking her thumb gently over Evie’s bruised up cheek. “Where have you been the past week? Were you in your castle?” she shook her head no. “What’s going on?”_

_Evie pulled away from her touch as tears swam in her vision. “Please, Mal.”_

_“What do you need, Princess?”_

_“You have to help me.” Evie’s brave façade crumbled as her chest started to heave. She began to sob._

_“I will do anything you need, baby girl. Just say the word and I’ll do it.”_

_“She…sold…me…” Evie wailed._

_The tension in the atmosphere got even worse, if that was possible. “What?” Mal asked softly._

_“On my birthday, when I got home…” she had to pause while she tried to gather herself. She had to tell them. She at least owed them that. “She gave me a dress and new jewelry. She sounded happy, and I thought things would be different.” She sniffled and tried to wipe away some of her tears. “But then she told me that she found me a prince. She said I’m too used up for the Auradon princes, but there’s been one here this whole time.”_

_Mal reached out to her again. Evie knew she should probably distance herself from the girl, but she couldn’t help it. She was weak. She crawled across the couch and buried her face in Mal’s chest, letting the purple haired girl comfort her._

_“Then what happened?”_

_“She choked me up against the wall and said that I should try and see you now.” Evie recalled, her voice muffled from her tears and Mal’s shirt. “She said he can take me and hurt me any way he wants, and it’s my job to keep him happy so that he’ll keep giving her what she needs.”_

_“Is that where you’ve been?” Mal asked, gently smoothing the hair off of her bruised up face. “Is that who put these marks on you?”_

_Evie didn’t want to talk about that. Mal had never asked for specifics from one of her “lessons” and she was eternally grateful for that. She couldn’t tell her what happened. She couldn’t tell her how much pleasure he got out of beating her. She couldn’t tell her that the bruises on her face weren’t even the worst of what he had done to her._

_Mal pressed gentle kisses against her forehead and Evie couldn’t help but lean into them. How could she be so willing to still let Mal touch her? Why did Mal not think she was disgusting?_

_“Who is it, my love?” Mal whispered into her skin. “Tell me his name.”_

_Evie knew that Mal had taken care of the last two men who hurt her. She wasn’t naïve enough to believe that Mal would be able to get rid of this one too; he was too powerful, too well connected. Besides, she didn’t know what her mother would do to her if he wound up dead._

_Evie whimpered as she pressed even closer against Mal. She couldn’t do this. She wasn’t strong enough._

_“Do you trust me?” Evie nodded with zero hesitation. “Who?”_

_Evie stared down at her lap. “Quinton, the son of the Queen of Hearts.”_

\-----

Mal held Evie’s hand tightly in her own as they walked to the health center. She could see Evie biting her lip out of the corner of her eye and she knew she was nervous. Even Mal was nervous, so she couldn’t really blame her. 

Jay, who was a few steps ahead of them, opened up the door. Mal led the way in, keeping Evie right behind her, followed by Carlos, and then Jay brought up the rear. 

It was Monday, which was normally the day that Carlos met with Dr. Bren and Evie met with Fairy Godmother. But Mal had decided that today was the time to finally take some action, and Evie was actually willing to cooperate. 

“Hello, everyone.” Dr. Bren was waiting for them in her office with Fairy Godmother. She smiled and Mal tried her best not to react negatively. While she didn’t hate Dr. Bren and thought she could be somewhat helpful, she knew that Evie’s feelings were a lot different. Mal wanted to support her girlfriend since she was the entire reason they were there today. “Please, take a seat.” 

Mal sat down, pulling Evie into the chair next to her. Jay and Carlos stayed next to each other too, but a couple feet away from the girls. Fairy Godmother and Dr. Bren were next to each other, and there was a table separating them from Evie and Mal. 

“Mal, you asked for us all to have a meeting together.” Dr. Bren stated. “Is there something specific that you would like to discuss or that you feel like you need some advice on?” 

“Yes.” Mal squeezed Evie’s hand, earning a squeezed back a second later. 

“It’s about me.” Evie responded. “You know that I have trouble with food.” 

Mal decided to take over and just jump straight to the point instead of forcing Evie to say the words and get uncomfortable. “We need advice on how to handle Evie’s eating habits.” 

“Evie, are you ready to talk about this?” Fairy Godmother asked. Evie nodded. “What made you decide this?” 

“I want to get better. I’m done hiding and pretending like it’s not an issue.” She let out a shaky breath, but then lifted her head to look at the adults. “I’m going to warn you both now, I’m not going to make this easy. Right now, I’m ready to talk, but I know I’ll regret, maybe in a few days, maybe as soon as tomorrow. There will probably be times where I’m a giant bitch and I argue with you. But I want to try.” 

“We’re here to support you.” Dr. Bren told her. “I’m glad you know it won’t be an easy process. From what I’ve seen, it seems like your friends are in it for the long haul.” 

“Damn right.” Mal agreed, pressing a kiss to the top of Evie’s head as the boys offered enthusiastic nods. 

“Fairy Godmother and I will be here too, even if you get upset. It’s going to be hard, but you can beat this, Evie.” 

The blue haired girl nodded and Mal felt her heart fill with pride. “Where do we start?” 

FG took over from there. “Let’s talk about the Isle. I know that you all don’t like to bring it up, but that’s where this issue began. Tell me about what kinds of food you ate growing up.” 

“Scraps, pretty much.” Evie answered. “There were drop off days and if you were in a powerful crew, you had first pick over the scraps. My mother was aligned with Maleficent, so she was able to get food. When I was little, everything was fine. I ate what my mother gave to me and I knew better than to ask for extra because even when you’re a child on the Isle, you pick up on the tension and you know that people are struggling.” 

“When did things start to change?” 

“I was eight.” Evie said, her voice getting quieter as she looked down at her lap. Mal squeezed her hand, then leaned over and wrapped an arm around her waist to pull her closer. She didn’t care about FG or Dr. Bren’s expectations right now, she would give Evie whatever kind of support she needed. 

“What happened when you were eight?” 

“For my birthday, my mother gave me a journal.” Evie turned towards Mal, her expression pleading. 

Mal reached down and grabbed out the black journal. That journal was one of the things she hated most in the world, and she didn’t even know Evie brought it to Auradon with her until last week. She hadn’t written in it, but Evie did admit that she went back and read some of her mother’s comments.

“Evil Queen would make Evie write her likes and dislikes about her appearance for the day. Then, she would go through and critique everything she wrote.” Mal pushed the journal across the table to FG. “You can keep that.” 

“Mal…”

“No, Evie. You don’t need it.” 

“Mal is right, Evie. It’s harmful to hold onto items that remind you of your struggles with eating.” Dr. Bren agreed. “If you don’t want me to, I won’t read it. I can hold onto it for you until you’re ready to get rid of it.”

“Okay.” Evie agreed somewhat reluctantly. “But don’t read it.” 

“I won’t.” Dr. Bren promised. She took the journal off the table and slipped it into her bag. “What changed with food when you were eight?” 

“My mother was a lot more strict when it came to what I was allowed to eat. Her entire goal for me was to be pretty and perfect and to find a prince. If she thought I was too fat, she would have me stop eating for a few days to go back down to an acceptable weight.” Evie winced as she said it. Mal stroked her hair, hoping to keep her in the present so she didn’t slide back into a memory. 

“What was an acceptable weight to her?” 

“Below 100 pounds. As I got older, her expectation didn’t really change, and she would get upset when I gained more weight and couldn’t slide back down to 60 or 70 pounds.” Mal studied her girlfriend, looking for any of her tells. Evie’s leg was starting to bounce.

“Is that why you were upset at the health center?” FG prodded, her voice gentle. Evie just nodded in response. 

“Can we take a break?” Mal interrupted, immediately earning a grateful look from the blue haired girl. 

“Of course. Evie, whenever you feel like talking is getting too stressful, you can always ask for a break.” Dr. Bren reminded her.

Mal reached over and grabbed Evie’s hand, then pulled her to her feet. She led her out of Dr. Bren’s office and to the little seating area in the hallway. Dr. Bren had been good about giving her breaks during her sessions, so Mal was familiar with where to go if you needed to calm down for a minute. 

“C’mere.” Mal pulled Evie onto her lap and kissed her cheek, then jaw, then neck. “You’re doing such a good job, baby. I’m so fucking proud of you.” She kissed her lips carefully so she didn’t smudge her lipstick. 

“We’ve hardly even talked and I already feel so tired.” Evie admitted. 

“I bet it will be hard the first couple times, and then after you get used to talking about it, it will get easier.” Mal stroked her hair and rubbed her back. “But you’re doing so well.” 

“What else do you think they’ll ask?” 

“We should probably tell them about the throwing up.” Mal said, feeling Evie tense up immediately. “That’s one of the things you need help with. You have to stay healthy, remember? We have a lot on the line here.” 

“I know.” Evie nuzzled her neck. “Can you just hold me for a minute?” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal tightened her arms around her and just sat there in silence, letting Evie gather her thoughts. After a few moments, Evie lifted her head up. “You ready?” 

“I guess.” Evie gave her a kiss. “Thank you.” 

“If there’s anything you don’t want to talk about, tell me and I’ll do it for you. I’m here to help however I can, Princess.” 

“Okay.”

Mal held Evie’s hand as she led her back in the room. She could hear FG talking to the boys about Tourney, and they let the conversation continue even once the girls came back in and sat down. Mal was happy about that because at least she could get Evie sitting down and settled before the questions started again. 

“Are you ready to keep going, dear?” FG asked. 

“Yes.” Evie said, her voice coming out strong. Mal smiled at her girl’s strength and confidence. 

“You said that you mostly ate scraps on the Isle, and that if you had power, you could go to the docks and get food. What happened to the people who didn’t have power?” 

“They didn’t eat.” Jay answered. “Or they had to trade something for food. There wasn’t nearly enough food to go around, so people had pretty small rations anyway.” 

“That’s part of the reason power is so important on the Isle.” Mal picked up, looking at Dr. Bren as she spoke. “If you don’t have power, then you don’t get food, water, clothes, shelter, protection- the basic things you need to survive.” 

“The four of you had power though?” Dr. Bren clarified. 

Mal nodded. “We were all under the protection of my mother, and then when we made our own Crew, we were able to protect ourselves.” 

“Were you in competition with your mother for power?” 

“No.” Mal explained. “We did jobs for her, and for the rest of our parents. In exchange for that, we got to run our own portion of my mother’s territory. My mother has the majority of the territory of the Isle, which makes her the leader. But the younger generation is constantly fighting a war to gain more territory for our parents.” 

“Was food ever used as a way to bargain?” 

“Always.” Jay said. “But if you had the right protection, it didn’t matter. They would make sure you ate.” 

“What did people have to exchange in order to get protection?” 

“Services.” Carlos replied. “Depends on what you have to offer.” 

“What did the four of you have to offer?” Fairy Godmother asked, though Mal could pick up on the hesitation in her voice. 

“Boundary.” Mal responded. She could explain that she terrorized the younger kids into following Maleficient’s orders, or that Jay could steal right out from under your nose, or that Carlos could create amazing things out of a few broken discarded pieces of trash. But she would never, ever make Evie sit there and say that, according to their parents, her most useful service was her body. 

“I’m sorry for overstepping.” Fairy Godmother said, earning a nod back from each of the teenagers. “Is it okay for us to keep going?” 

Mal looked at her friends. The boys seemed okay, and Evie’s eyes were still focused and she seemed attentive, so everything was good for now. “Yes.”

“Evie, if it’s okay with you, I want to go back to your eating habits.” Dr. Bren stated. “How often did you eat on the Isle?” 

“If my weight was good, my mother would let me eat dinner every day.” 

“Evie’s dinner was nothing like dinner here.” Mal interrupted. “She was allowed to have a couple apple slices, maybe some nuts if her mother was being generous. It wasn’t enough to hold her over and she was always exhausted.” 

“Mal would sneak me meals.” Evie said. “Berries, fish, the freshest vegetables she could find. There were times where I would be close to passing out, but Mal always helped me. Then I would go back home and my mother would weigh me and my numbers would go up, so I would get punished.” 

“This might be too far, so you can call boundary if you need to.” FG warned. “What types of punishment did you get?” 

Mal could tell Evie really wanted to say that was a boundary, and she almost did it for her. But then her brave, beautiful girlfriend started to speak. “Most of the time, it was no food for a week. I was allowed to have a little bit of water each day, but nothing of actual substance until my weight went down.” She looked to Mal pleadingly. 

“Do you want me to tell them?” Evie nodded her head. Mal leaned over and kissed her forehead, then pulled her into a hug. “Her mother would pinch the places on her body where she said there was too much fat. When she was really angry, she would lock Evie in a dark closet for days with no food or water.” 

Mal could feel how shaky Evie’s breath was on her neck. She rubbed small circles on her back, hoping that she could stay calm. She was doing such a good job and Mal wanted her to be able to keep going. 

“Do you need a break, E?” Carlos questioned.

Evie sat up. “I just want to get this over this.” She looked at FG. “Ask me whatever you want. I just want to be done.” 

“Evie, dear, the point of this isn’t to push you to the point where you are mentally exhausted. If you want to stop for the day, we can stop.”

“If I stop, then I know next time I won’t want to talk. Let’s just get it over with.” 

Dr. Bren nodded in understanding. “When you say you have eating trouble, what exactly do you mean?” 

“I don’t eat a lot. Even though I know my mother is still on the Isle, I can’t shake the habits that she pushed on me. Sometimes, I throw up after I eat.” 

“Do you make yourself throw up, or it just happens?”

“Both.” 

“How long have you been doing this?” 

“I don’t know.” Evie said, looking to Mal for help. The purple haired girl shrugged; Evie had never told her when it started. 

“When was the last time you threw up?” 

“It’s been over two weeks.” Mal internally sighed in relief; she had been hoping that Evie wasn’t secretly throwing up after their big fight, and if what she said was true, then she hasn’t. 

Dr. Bren steered the conversation in a new direction. “Walk me through a normal morning for you. Tell me how you feel when you wake up and you know you have to go to breakfast.” 

“Usually when I wake up, that’s the first thing on my mind. I dread meal times because I know that Mal, Jay, and Carlos will make me eat, even if I don’t want to. The whole time I’m getting ready, my stomach is bubbly. Lately, I’ve been reminding myself that I have to eat because it will help me stay healthy. Before that, I was just forcing myself to eat so that Mal and the boys were happy. That’s still part of the reason why I’m eating, but I’m trying to be more positive about it.” 

“Do you eat breakfast, lunch, and dinner now that you’re in Auradon?” 

“It depends on what’s happening. Mal tries to get me to eat all three, but if something else happens that makes me upset, sometimes she lets me miss a meal because she knows I’ll throw it up anyway.” 

“By force, or it just happens?”

“Normally if I have a bad day, it just happens.” 

“How do you choose what to eat at your meals?” 

“Mal picks for me. There’s always too much food, and sometimes it makes me feel sick just looking at it. I don’t know what a lot of it is, so Mal will try new things and if she thinks I will like it, she’ll give me small portions of it.” 

“The main things I can get her to eat are yogurt, fruit- she has always loved pineapples, and now she really likes strawberries too-, asparagus, salad, toast with strawberry jelly, mashed potatoes, and macaroni and cheese. Sometimes pizza, but she says greasy foods make her stomach hurt.” Mal added. 

“Evie, you have done such a great job today.” Dr. Bren praised. “I think it’s best that we stop right here. You’ve given me a lot of good information, and now I can get the resources that we’ll need together for your Wednesday appointment. Mal, I would like you to come to Evie’s appointment with her on Wednesday.” 

“I’ll be there.” Mal promised. She looked to Evie, who just seemed relieved to finally be leaving the health center. 

“Thank you.” Evie said as she stood. The other three followed her lead and they walked out of the health center together. 

“You did so, so good, baby.” Mal grabbed Evie’s cheeks, pulling her towards her for a kiss. “Alright, the next thing is up to you. Do you want to go watch Tourney practice, or should we go home and take a nap?” 

“You have practice.” Evie reminded her. “You can’t go take a nap.”

“I can miss practice.” 

“No.” Evie gave her a hug. “I’ll come watch you at practice, but you have to take a bath with me tonight and wash my hair.” 

“Deal.” Mal sealed it with a kiss. 

\-----

Wednesday came much quicker than Evie was anticipating. She was nervous, but she got through the day without any major issues. When it was time to go to therapy, she started to worry. She had no idea what kind of solution Dr. Bren was going to give her or how much she would have to change. 

“Ready to go, Pretty Girl?” Mal asked her as they packed up their bags once the final bell rang. 

“I guess so.”

“It’s going to be okay. This will help you feel better, E.” 

“I hope so.” 

“See you guys later.” Carlos said as the two girls headed towards the door. 

“Text me if you need anything.” Jay added. 

‘Thanks, boys.” Evie smiled at them. She reached out for Mal’s hand, her girlfriend taking it with zero hesitation. 

Her appointment was in the health center again today, which added to Evie’s worries. She had gotten used to Fairy Godmother’s office and felt safe there. 

Mal, as usual, led the way inside. She knocked on Dr. Bren’s door before pushing it open. Dr. Bren, Fairy Godmother, a woman, and a man were sitting in the room. Evie had never seen them before. The man looked to be in his early 30s with dark hair and blue eyes. The woman had curly red hair and brown eyes and was in her mid-30s. 

“Hi girls.” FG greeted as they walked in. Evie could feel Mal tense up when she saw the strangers. “This is Scott, he is a nutritionist, and Dr. Annie Rhodes. Scott, Annie, this is Evie and Mal.” 

“Hello, it’s nice to meet you.” He held his hand out. Mal stared at him in disinterest, while Evie reached forward to shake his hand. 

“Nice to meet you.” She replied.

Mal sat down first, taking the seat that was closer to Scott. Evie wasn’t at all surprised by this, and she was even a little grateful. This left Evie in a seat between Mal and Fairy Godmother. 

“Evie, on Monday you talked to us about your issues with eating. I took all the information you gave me and I used it to help me figure out what steps we’re going to take next. When you are working on overcoming eating issues, you can’t do it on your own. This will be our team while we’re working through everything. Scott will help to design a meal plan that will help you get to the point where you are able to accept that eating is part of staying healthy and that it is just fuel for your body. Dr. Rhodes is a pediatrician, and she will use any lab results and information to determine if you are in need of medication or any other types of medical services. You and I will work together to deal with the psychological issues from your past that involve eating. Fairy Godmother will stay as a trusted person you can confide in, and I would like Mal to be aware of your treatment plan, which is why I invited her here today.” 

“Okay.” Evie said. She didn’t expect Dr. Bren to bring in new people that she would have to spill her darkest secrets to, but it made sense. She couldn’t do everything on her own. 

The next two hours were absolutely exhausting. They had Evie make a log of everything she had eaten in the past week (which Mal ended up mostly doing for her). Dr. Rhodes took her height and weight, and then drew blood so they could test and see what she needed to eat more of. Evie had been a nervous wreck during that, but once Mal let her bury her face in her chest and stroked her hair, she calmed down enough that Dr. Rhodes could get the blood samples she needed. Scott asked her all kinds of questions- how she feels about food and weight, does she take vitamins, where she gets food, does she know how to cook, and what goals does she want to accomplish. FG sat beside her the whole time, reassuring her that she was doing a great job. Dr. Bren asked more questions about eating and food. 

By the end of her appointment, Evie wanted to cry. She didn’t want to talk about food anymore, she felt guilty that Mal was missing Tourney because of her, and she didn’t want to go to dinner. 

That’s when they took over and started to explain the treatment plan. Scott sat down with her and discussed portion sizes and what kinds of food she needed to be eating. Then, he helped her make a plan of what she wants to eat this week (with some input from Mal). Fairy Godmother made a list of ingredients and told the girls about the kitchens located in each dorm, telling them she would get what they needed and have it stored there.

“I want to talk to you about anxiety.” Dr. Bren said, catching Evie completely off guard. “Obviously, you have some anxiety that revolves around eating. But I think it extends beyond that.” Evie nodded her head; she could see that. “Evie, I believe that some of the cause of your eating disorder is your anxiety. You start to get nervous about other aspects of life, which then makes your stomach hurt, and then you assume that your stomach is hurting because you don’t want to eat, when in reality that may not be the case. I want to start you on medication.” 

“What?” Evie asked. She had never really had medicine before, and she didn’t want to start now. 

Dr. Rhodes pulled out an orange bottle. “You take one pill every night before you go to sleep, starting tonight. This will help send chemicals to your brain that it needs to regulate your emotions. You won’t be so nervous anymore.” 

“I don’t want medicine.” 

“Evie, this will help you.” Fairy Godmother told her. “If your anxiety is lowered, then your resistance to eating will hopefully be lowered too and you won’t have to keep continuing with all of this treatment.” 

Evie definitely wanted to cry now. She looked over at Mal, who nodded encouragingly. She reached out and took the bottle from Dr. Rhodes in defeat. 

“Now it’s time to talk about you, Mal.” Dr. Bren said. Evie listened in interest, knowing they were probably going to tell her girlfriend to babysit her. “You have done a great job with helping Evie to get healthy, but now, it’s time for you to take a step back.” 

“Huh?” Mal sounded just as confused as Evie felt. 

“The only way that Evie will heal is if she takes control over her own body. Evie needs to make the decision on if she will eat or not, and what she will eat. Let me ask you this- has your relationship suffered because of Evie’s eating disorder?” 

Mal turned to look at her and Evie knew she didn’t want to expose her, but at this point it didn’t really matter anymore since they had already dug so deep into her life. She nodded in permission. 

“Yes.” Mal answered. 

“In order for the two of you to have a healthy relationship, Evie has to have some independence. Mal, if you police her about what she is eating, you are going to feel exhausted and Evie is going to feel like you are controlling her. That will lead to more bad choices being made.” 

Both girls nodded in agreement; they could definitely see the point Dr. Bren was making. 

“But what am I supposed to do if Evie is making bad choices? Am I supposed to just let her hurt herself?”

“You call me.” Dr. Bren said simply. “Right now, the best way for you to support Evie is to be there for her. If she wants to vent, listen. Don’t force her to eat. Remind her of her meal plan, and support her by following it with her when you are able. Compliment her about things that don’t have to do with her body. She just needs you to be there.” 

“I will be.” Mal promised. She kissed the top of Evie’s hand, and Evie gave her a weak smile. 

“Evie, how are you feeling?” Dr. Bren wondered. 

“Exhausted.” She admitted. “I really don’t want to go to dinner after we talked so much about food.” 

“That’s your choice to make. You can skip dinner, or you can follow the plan that you just created with Scott.” 

Evie sighed. “I need to eat so I can be healthy.” 

“I’m very proud of your progress today, sweetheart.” Dr. Bren smiled at her. 

“You did so good, dear.” Fairy Godmother agreed. 

Mal stood, pulling Evie to her feet. “Can we go?”

“Yes.” 

Mal held Evie’s hand as they walked out of the room. As soon as they were in the hallway, she pulled Evie into her arms. 

“My girl is so fucking amazing.” Mal showered her with kisses. “I love you so much, you know that? I’m so proud of you!” 

Evie giggled as Mal continued to kiss her forehead, cheeks, noses, lips, neck, anywhere she could reach. “Stop it.” 

“You did so good, pretty baby.” Mal gave her one last kiss on her lips, letting this one linger.

Evie cuddled into her. “I’m so tired, M.” 

“I know.” Mal hugged her tighter. “Dinner, shower, homework, then bed. How does that sound?” 

“Good.” Evie said. “Come on, let’s get it over with.” 

Mal laughed, squeezing her hand. “Fucking amazing.” She repeated. 

\-----

Evie took her medicine for the first time on Wednesday night. She didn’t notice any difference. She fell right asleep in Mal’s arms, like usual. 

On Thursday, things were the same. Classes were good, she had fun at sewing club, and she watched Tourney practice after. She followed the meal plan that Scott had helped her make- for breakfast, she would have yogurt and fruit in the cafeteria. Lunch was salad with grilled chicken, nuts, and dried cranberries in the cafeteria. She and Mal made dinner together in the dorm kitchen (fish with asparagus and a baked potato with butter, cheese, and sour cream), and they laughed and joked around the whole time. When it was time to sit down and do her homework, Evie had a headache, but she pushed through it anyway. She figured it was just from being busy all day. She took her medicine and laid down with Mal, but it took her longer than usual to fall asleep. 

On Friday, the day went by with no issues. She stuck to her meal plan for breakfast and lunch and ate in the cafeteria with her friends. There was a game tomorrow, so Coach called for an extra practice. Evie surprised Mal, Carlos, and Jay by having dinner ready for them when Tourney was over. They all raved about her cooking and Evie actually felt like she accomplished something. She even ate all the food on her plate. She took a bath with Mal, then took her medicine. They joined the boys on the couch for a movie night. As soon as the movie started, Evie felt a headache coming on, which was joined by nausea about halfway through. She cuddled up to Mal and tried to fall asleep, but sleep wouldn’t come. They got through two movies and normally, Evie would be asleep during the first (especially after such a long, exhausting week), but she was still wide awake by the end of the second. 

On Saturday, they went down to the cafeteria first thing in the morning. Evie’s head was still hurting, but she ate her breakfast anyway. She was doing okay so far, and she didn’t want to mess up her meal plan. After she ate, she instantly felt nauseous again. The Tourney game was rough and she winced every time someone cheered too loudly around her.  
When halftime was called, she rested her head in her hands and closed her eyes. She was sitting with Doug and Lonnie, who were used to her being worried about her friends by now. They didn’t realize that she had hardly been paying attention and that her head was down because she wasn’t feeling well.

“Hey baby.” Evie’s head shot up at the sound of Mal’s voice. She was surprised to see her girlfriend kneeling in front of her in full Tourney gear instead of in the locker room where she was supposed to be. “You okay?”

“M, what are you doing over here? You’re going to get in trouble, you better go.” 

“You were quiet at breakfast, and every time I look over at you it looks like you’re in pain. What’s going on?” 

“My head is pounding and I’m really nauseous.” Evie admitted. 

“As soon as this is over, we’ll get lunch and then take a nap, okay?” Mal stroked her cheek. “Can you make it the rest of the game?” 

She didn’t really have a choice, so she just nodded. “I’ll be okay.” 

Mal leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on the lips. “See you soon, Princess.” She kissed her forehead, then walked down the bleachers towards the locker room. 

“Coach is probably pissed that she left the locker room. What is she thinking?” Doug asked. 

“She’s thinking about her girlfriend, obviously.” Lonnie said, nudging Evie with her arm. Evie smiled, but it wasn’t as bright as normal. 

True to Mal’s word, when the game ended, they went with the boys to the cafeteria for lunch. Evie ate her salad, but it was hard because of her stomach hurting. She gave up after eating half and leaned her head over on Mal’s shoulder. 

Mal wrapped and arm around her waist and rubbed her stomach. “Still feeling nauseous?” 

“Mmhmm.” 

“Are you finished eating?”

“I can’t eat anymore or I think I might throw up.” Evie said quietly. 

“Okay.” Mal took her last few bites of food, then stood up. She started to gather her garbage. 

“Where are you guys going?” Carlos questioned around a mouthful of food. 

“E needs to rest.” Mal answered. “See you at dinner.” 

Once they were alone in their dorm room, Evie stripped out of her clothes she had been wearing that day until she was only in a pair of underwear. Mal tossed her a t-shirt and she pulled it over her head. Evie gathered her outfit from today and laid it out on her desk chair so she could wear it to dinner later. 

“M, you better put your uniform in the hamper.” Evie scolded. 

“I will.” Mal said, her voice muffled since she was in their closet. 

Evie climbed into bed and took a deep breath, letting it out as she relaxed against the pillows. Mal came out a few minutes later in pajamas and crawled across the bed until she was over top of Evie. She leaned down, pressing her cheek against Evie’s forehead. 

“You don’t feel warm, so you must not have a fever. At least we know you’re not sick. Talk to me, babe. What’s going on?” 

“I don’t know. Eating hasn’t been horrible, and I actually like following the meal plan. But my head has been hurting, I feel nauseous, and I haven’t been sleeping very well the past couple days.” 

“What about your anxiety? Have you been feeling anxious?”

“I’m not sure. My stomach has been hurting, so I can’t tell if it’s from eating or the bubbly feeling.” Evie reached her arms up towards Mal. “Can you cuddle me?” 

Mal moved her body so she was laying next to her girlfriend. Evie laid her head against Mal’s chest and threw her leg over her hips. The purple haired girl just pulled her closer. 

“I feel like the medicine is what made this start.” Evie said after a few moments of silence. “Ever since I started taking it, I’ve had headaches, been nauseous, and haven’t been sleeping well. That can’t be a coincidence, right?” 

“It could be.” Mal kissed her forehead. “Or maybe it is the medicine, and your body is just adjusting to it. It’s only been a few days.” 

“It’s not helping with the eating problems. Constantly feeling like I’m going to throw up for the past few days isn’t helping me keep food down.” 

“I’m sorry, babe, but you have to keep taking them.” Mal slid her hand underneath Evie’s t-shirt and gently scratched her nails across her lower back. “It’s going to help you.” 

Evie was frustrated that Mal didn’t seem to think it was a big deal, but maybe she was right. Maybe after she adjusted to the medicine, these side effects would stop and she could get better. She decided to give in and let her eyes slide shut, focusing only on the feeling of Mal’s fingers against her back.


	24. Side Effects

_When Mal woke up, she was surprised to see she was all alone in the bed. Normally, Evie was sprawled out on top of her, or at least cuddled into her side. She sat up, running a hand through her messy hair, and scanned across the room. She didn’t see her girlfriend anywhere._

_Mal practically jumped out of bed. Had someone taken Evie away while she was sleeping? Did someone find their hideout? Did…_

_Mal let her internal questions end when she walked out into the main area. Evie was standing near the window, looking out at the perfect view of the Isle._

_She went over to her, stepping purposely on one of the squeaky floorboards so she didn’t scare her. Evie glanced over her shoulder, but didn’t seem surprised to see her._

_“I don’t like waking up alone.” Mal said as she wrapped her arms around Evie’s waist. She rested her chin on Evie’s shoulder, tilting slightly to press a quick kiss to her neck._

_The way the moonlight filtered in through the window hit all of Evie’s bruises perfectly. Mal still felt sick at how bruised up Evie’s body was. She had never seen her this hurt before, and she vowed that she would make Quinton’s death long and painful, just like he deserved._

_“Sorry.” Evie practically whispered._

_“Why are you out of bed, baby?” Mal leaned up to kiss her temple. “What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?”_

_“I meant what I said earlier.” Evie said. “I can’t be alive anymore.”_

_“Shhh.” Mal tried to stop her._

_“I’m serious, Mal.” Evie turned to look at her and when they made eye contact, she felt a chill run down her spine at the emptiness in Evie’s normally warm brown eyes. “I hate being alive. I would give anything to not be here anymore.”_

_“E, I can’t even begin to understand what you’ve gone through. But we’ll fix it, okay?”_

_“There’s nothing you can do, don’t you get that?” Evie laughed dryly. “No matter what, I will always run back to my mother because I am weak and desperate and I need her approval. She will give me right back to Quinton because he owns me now and she wants whatever riches he can offer her. How am I supposed to keep doing this, Mal? Look at me!” she gestured to her face. Evie pulled out of her embrace and tugged her shirt over her head, then pulled her pants down, leaving her in only a pair of underwear._

_Mal’s eyes started to glow as she looked at the discoloration on her girlfriend’s skin. She was covered from head to toe in different colored bruises. “I’ll kill him.”_

_“It won’t matter. If you kill him, she’ll kill me.” Evie turned and looked back towards the window. “I think about killing myself sometimes. I think about how I would do it, and what would happen. But I don’t know if I could go through with it.”_

_“Baby…”_

_“I’m dirty.” Evie had tears streaming down her cheeks now. “I’m dirty, and used up, and disgusting. There’s no way you could want to be with me anymore.”_

_“But I do.”_

_“But you can’t!” Evie shouted, her voice cracking from her tears. “I hate myself.”_

_Mal went back over to her. She wrapped her arms around her waist again, then pulled her down so they could sit. Mal held Evie carefully on her lap, pressing gentle kisses to her forehead and cheeks._

_“Breathe, Evie. I’m here and I’m not going anywhere.”_

_“Please.” Evie practically begged. Mal just kissed her head again. “I just want to be free from her.”_

_Mal sat on the floor with Evie for hours, rocking her. “You will be. No matter what I have to do, I swear to you, you will be free.”_

\-----

Mal felt like she could never shut her brain off. From the minute she woke up until she went to sleep, she thought about Evie. Sometimes her mind drifted to art or Tourney, but it always came back to the blue haired girl. Is Evie eating? Is she throwing up? Is anyone being mean to her? Is she happy? 

The last question seemed to be sticking out more and more in Mal’s brain. It seemed like ever since they came to Auradon, Evie wasn’t happy. It was crazy when you considered all that Evie had been through on the Isle, but there were still moments there that she was happy. Mal didn’t understand why those moments were so few and far between in Auradon. 

On Sunday, Evie still wasn’t feeling well. Mal went and got them breakfast from the cafeteria and brought it back to the room, but it ended with Evie gagging as she was eating. Mal reassured her that she could stop and Evie laid down, but never fell asleep. 

“It doesn’t matter how hard I try, I can’t sleep!” Evie complained in absolute misery. “My head is pounding but nothing helps. I don’t know what to do, M.” 

“Shhh, just keep resting, okay?” Mal got up, shutting all the curtains around the room and turning off the light. “We’ll just hang out in bed today.” 

“You’ll stay with me?”

Mal kissed her forehead. “Always.”

She ended up taking a short nap in the afternoon, but other than that, Evie was restless. She couldn’t focus enough to design and watching TV wasn’t helping, so she spent most of the day sitting on Mal’s lap and cuddling against her chest while Mal drew. 

At dinner time, Mal cooked. Evie sat on the countertop and cut up some vegetables, but Mal did most of the other work. When everything was ready, they gathered their plates and went back to the dorm. 

After they ate, Mal stood up. She lifted Evie into her arms. “Let’s take a bath.” She was hoping the warm water would help Evie calm down before bedtime. 

Mal filled the tub with warm water and added some of Evie’s soap she had made so it would make bubbles. She got in and Evie sat across from her so they could look at each other.

“I’m sorry I’ve been boring today.” Evie said. 

“You’re not feeling good, babe. It’s not your fault.” Mal reassured her. “Maybe getting out of the room tomorrow will help you feel better.” 

“Maybe.” Evie sighed. “I just hate this.” 

“I know. Come here, Pretty Girl.” Mal held her arms out and Evie moved carefully towards her, trying not to splash water over the side of the tub. Mal pulled her girlfriend on top of her, letting Evie rest her head on her shoulder. “Let’s just close our eyes and wind down, okay?” 

They were quiet for a while, the only sound being Mal lifting handfuls of warm water and letting it run over Evie’s exposed back every few minutes so she wouldn’t get cold. Eventually, Evie sat up. 

“Can we get out soon?”

“Let’s wash our hair and then we can.” Mal agreed. She stood, then offered Evie a hand to pull her up. She unplugged the drain and turned on the shower. “I’ll never get over the fact that you can take a bath, then still have hot water left to take a shower.” 

“I know, it’s kind of ridiculous.” The water had warmed up, so Evie stepped back so she could rinse the bubbles off of herself. As soon as her hair was completely wet, Mal went to wash it. She saw that there were new bottles. 

“Which one is shampoo?” 

“The blue one.” 

Mal squirted some of the liquid into her hand. She was surprised when it came out pink. As soon as she put it in Evie’s hair, she caught a whiff of the scent. 

“Is this strawberry?”

“Mmhmm. I figured you would like it.” 

“You’re so talented, you know that? I don’t understand how you get it to smell so close to the actual thing.” 

“It’s just a balance of chemicals.” Evie started to go off into an explanation, reminding Mal that she was dating a complete nerd. Mal just listened with one of her lovesick smiles glued to her face. 

“All done.” Mal said once she finished shampooing and conditioning Evie’s hair, punctuating the end of her sentence with a kiss. “Do you want to go get in bed and I’ll meet you there?”

“No, I’ll do your hair.” Evie squirted shampoo into her hair and then started to massage her scalp. Mal just leaned her head forward and let her work her magic. She might have been one of the most ruthless people on the Isle, but she craved Evie’s touch and affection just as much as her girlfriend needed hers. They were both incredibly touchy and took any opportunity to give the other love and attention. Sure, Evie needed a little more affection than Mal, but Mal would never say no to it.

Once they were both clean, they made out under the spray of the water for a while. Mal held Evie close, trying to convey how much she loved her through her actions. 

The water finally turned cold, so Mal shut it off while Evie grabbed their towels. They dried off on their own, brushed their teeth, and got dressed- Evie in underwear and a t-shirt, Mal in pajamas pants and a tank top. 

Evie grabbed her brush and went over to her girlfriend. “Will you help me?”

“Uh-huh.” Mal took the brush and gently detangled Evie’s hair. When she was finished, she pressed a kiss to the top of her head. “Done.”

“Thank you.” Evie stood and gave her a quick kiss. “Want me to do yours?”

“Yeah.” 

It didn’t take long and then they were both ready for bed. Evie laid down first, trying to get comfortable. Mal remembered that she hadn’t taken her anxiety medicine, so she grabbed the bottle and shook out a pill, then grabbed a bottle of water. 

“Here, baby.” She held the pill out. 

Evie grimaced. “Not tonight.” 

“Evie, the pills aren’t an option. Dr. Bren said you have to take them to help keep you from getting anxious, which will then stop you from getting sick.”

“But I feel sick now.” Evie said. “I really don’t like how they make me feel.” 

“I’m sorry.” Mal kissed the tip of her nose, then her lips. She brought the pill up. “Open.” 

Evie looked ready to cry, but she opened her mouth. Mal set the pill on her tongue, then handed her the bottle of water. After she swallowed it, Mal put the water on the table next to the bed and turned off the light. 

She crawled into bed and tried to pull Evie closer, but she didn’t budge. “Are you really mad at me?” Evie rolled over so she was facing away from her. Mal scooted up behind her, slinging an arm around her waist and pulling her into her chest. “You can be mad all you want, but I’m just doing what’s best for you.” She kissed the back of her neck. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Evie mumbled. 

Mal just squeezed her tighter and shut her eyes. 

\-----

On Monday morning, Mal could see dark circles starting to form under Evie’s eyes. She knew that her girl was still struggling with sleep, and she hoped that something could be figured out to help her. 

“Maybe you should say something about the sleeping to FG today in therapy.” Mal offered. “Maybe they could give you a sleeping pill.” 

“Yay, more pills.” Evie said dryly before going into the bathroom to get ready. 

Mal didn’t particularly like the idea of Evie being on medicine either, but she would try anything at this point to help her get better. 

They had breakfast with the boys, and then classes started. Mal noticed Evie wincing if people were too loud, but otherwise, things were normal. They had lunch in the cafeteria, then finished up their classes. 

Evie and Carlos split and went off to therapy, while Mal and Jay played around until it was time for Tourney practice. Mal kept glancing towards the bleachers, waiting to see when her girlfriend would arrive. She smiled when Evie finally came over and sat down. 

“How was therapy?” she asked during the walk to dinner. 

“Fine.” 

“Did you mention the sleeping problem?”

“No, it was just FG there and she can’t do anything about it. Maybe I’ll say something on Wednesday when Dr. Bren comes.” 

That night, Mal had to bring Evie her medicine again. She looked absolutely exhausted as she reluctantly swallowed the pill. 

On Tuesday, Evie was up before Mal. When she walked into the bathroom, she found the blue haired girl doing her extensive makeup routine. 

“Morning, baby.”

“Good morning.” Evie said. 

“How are you feeling?” 

“Much better.” 

“That’s amazing.” Mal kissed her cheek. “See? I told you that you would just have to adjust.” 

Evie was quieter than usual, but nothing out of the ordinary happened. Mal had to go to therapy, and then she had Tourney practice. By the time it was over, she was ready to just go back to the dorm and spend the rest of the night with Evie. 

Mal opened up the dorm room door and the first thing she noticed was that she didn’t see Evie anywhere. She scanned her eyes over the room, trying to find something that indicated where she could be.

The first thing she noticed was the closed bathroom door. 

The second thing was the empty orange bottle laying on their bed. 

Mal felt her pulse jump as she walked forward. She picked up the bottle that Evie’s anxiety medicine was previously stored in, but it was completely empty. She looked around, hoping that maybe the lid got loose and some of the pills fell out, but she didn’t see them anywhere. 

Her heart started to race as she remembered all of her conversations with Evie about ending her pain. Were her headaches and nausea bad enough that she finally decided to act? Had she swallowed the bottle of pills in an attempt to escape from the world? 

Mal suddenly jumped into action. If Evie was here, she had to be in the bathroom. She kept the bottle in her grasp and went over to the bathroom door. She banged on it as hard as she could. 

“EVIE!” she shouted. She reached down, surprised that the door was unlocked. She pushed it open, her breath coming out in pants as she searched for her princess. Was she sprawled out on the floor somewhere? Was she still breathing? Was she…

“God, Mal, you could have waited a second.” 

Mal looked so quickly in the direction the voice had come from that she swore she would have whiplash. There was Evie, her beautiful, _living_ Evie, in the bathtub. 

“What the hell is wrong with you?” Mal demanded.

“What are you talking about, M?” she let the empty bottle fall onto the tiled floor, listening to the way it bounced. “Will you get in with me?” 

Mal could still feel her hands shaking and her heart racing. She had never been so scared. There had never been a time where she was so convinced that Evie had ended her life. “I…I thought you…”

Evie sat up, letting the water and bubbles drip off of her skin and back into the tub. “Mal, get out of your clothes and get into the bath with me.” 

Suddenly, Mal wanted nothing more than to hold her. She had to touch her and know that this was all real. She stripped out of her clothes as quickly as possible and then got into the water. She reached out and touched Evie’s face, tracing her jawline and chin, then the shape of her lips. 

She was real. She was safe.

Evie held both of her hands between the two of them. “Imagine lying awake at night with your mind racing.” She said softly, instantly gaining Mal’s attention. “Imagine having headaches so bad you feel like you can’t see straight. Imagine having people constantly telling you not to throw up, but then you start taking medicine that makes you so nauseous to the point where you think you’re going to throw up even without forcing yourself to.” 

Mal let her words sink in. Was it really that bad? She knew Evie wasn’t feeling good, but she didn’t know she was hurting this bad.

“I can’t do it, Mal.” Evie said with a shake of her head. “I know that Dr. Bren says the anxiety triggers the eating problems, but this medicine isn’t helping anything.” 

“Where are the pills?” the words were out before Mal could control herself. 

Evie’s face fell, as if she was realizing that Mal didn’t care about anything she had just said. “I got rid of them.” 

“Did you take them?” Mal demanded. Her voice was coming out so harsh, and Evie flinched slightly. Mal couldn’t stop herself even if she wanted to. 

Evie frowned. “I flushed them down the toilet.” Her head tilted slightly to the side. “Did you really think I took them all?” 

“I don’t know. I just saw the empty bottle and I freaked out.” Mal confessed. She ran a hand through her hair and took a deep breath, still trying to calm her racing thoughts and wildly beating heart. “I hear what you’re saying, okay? I didn’t know you were feeling this bad. I’m sorry for yelling at you. I just…I didn’t know what to do. I got scared.”

Evie brought her hands up to gently hold Mal’s cheeks. “M, baby, there are times in my life where I didn’t think I could keep going. But I know things are getting better. I still hate food and I hate eating, but I love you and our family and our new Auradon friends. I know we’re getting close to achieving what we came here to do.” She leaned forward until their foreheads touched. “I want to be alive…not even just alive, I want to be happy.” 

Mal couldn’t help it anymore. She yanked Evie forward into a bone crushing hug. “Then I will stop at nothing to make you happy, baby girl.” She kissed her cheek. “I’m sorry I didn’t listen to you.” 

“I still want to get better. I’ve been trying to eat even though my stomach has been hurting.” 

“I’ve noticed, and you’re doing such a good job, Princess.” She kissed her quickly. “Now we just need to figure out what happens next because those pills definitely weren’t the answer.” 

Evie smiled at her. “Thanks for sticking by me.” 

“Always.” 

\-----

On Wednesday, Mal joined Evie at her therapy appointment with Dr. Bren and Fairy Godmother. She wanted to offer moral support, figuring that her girlfriend would have to argue with Dr. Bren about why she couldn’t take the medicine anymore. 

“How are you feeling, Evie?” 

“I’m okay.” She said. 

“How have you been feeling since you started the anxiety medication?” 

Evie took a deep breath and let it out slowly. Mal squeezed her hand in reassurance. “The medicine was horrible. I couldn’t sleep, and every time I did fall asleep, I couldn’t stay asleep. I had really bad headaches and I was so nauseous that I was constantly worried that I would have to go throw up.” 

“Are you still taking it?” 

Evie looked down at her lap. “No. I flushed the pills down the toilet.” 

“Okay, so that one didn’t work for you.” Dr. Bren said, completely surprising both girls as she marked something on her clipboard. “We’ll try a different kind.” 

Mal’s mouth nearly fell open. “There’s more kinds?” she turned to Evie, who seemed just as shocked. “I’m so sorry, E.” 

“Why are you sorry, Mal?” Fairy Godmother wondered. 

“I had no idea that there were multiple kinds of pills.” 

“Yes, one type of medicine doesn’t work the same for everyone. It can be a process to find the right one that will work for Evie.” Dr. Bren told her. “I’m sorry, I should have made that clearer when I gave them to you.” 

“I feel like I’m making everything worse.” Mal admitted. “I kept pushing Evie to keep taking the medicine, even after she told me about how it was making her feel.” 

“You’re doing your best to support Evie.” Dr. Bren stated with a smile. “You’re still learning, and it’s okay to make mistakes.” 

“Not when it comes to her.” Mal argued. 

“Mal, Evie is a strong girl. Even though it’s not something we would choose for her, she can handle a few stomach aches and sleepless nights. It’s all part of the long-term battle to get her healthy and taken care of. You don’t need to beat yourself up over one little mistake. Now you know that medicines can have negative side effects and you won’t make that mistake again.” She turned to Evie. “Would you be willing to try a new medicine?” 

Evie looked skeptical. “What if this one has side effects too?”

“Then we’ll try another kind. There are plenty different ones to try, and one will work for you. We just have to find the right one.” 

“Okay.” Evie reluctantly agreed. 

“I know you don’t love the idea of taking medicine, but once we find the right one, you’re going to see why it’s so helpful.” Dr. Bren reassured her. “If you start to feel different after taking this pill, call me, okay? As soon as you start to notice something is off, we can talk about it and figure out if it’s because of the medicine or something else.” 

“Thank you, Dr. Bren.” Evie said. 

When the appointment ended, they walked out with a new little orange bottle of pills. As Mal watched Evie talk and smile and laugh, she prayed to whatever Gods were out there that this would help her girl finally be happy.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I hope you enjoy this early chapter! I'm pretty far ahead in writing this story right now, so I'm planning on trying to update every Wednesday and every Saturday for a little while. 
> 
> I hope you enjoyed the calm of this chapter because the next one is a big one, and just warning you now, it's going to be a hard one. 
> 
> Let me know what you think!


	25. Breaking Point

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is very flashback heavy, and it's going to deal with some sensitive subjects. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts/theories!

_Evie limped through the alleys, trying to avoid the main strip of the market. Quinton always returned her when it was daylight, and it made sneaking around a lot harder. She couldn’t let anyone see her like this. If they saw her, she would lose her reputation that she had worked so hard to get. For three months now, she had put in so much work to avoid having anyone but Mal, Jay, and Carlos see her after Q was done._

_She couldn’t let people know she was weak._

_“Well, look who we have here.”_

_She flinched at the sound of the voice. Evie didn’t even want to turn around._

_“Where are you going, Genevieve? Our castle is the other way.” She heard her mother’s steps getting closer and closer. “Unless you weren’t going to the castle.”_

_“I was going to the market.” Evie told her. She winced at how raspy her voice sounded._

_“Looking like this?” Grimhilde laughed. “Prince Quinton really did a number on you this time. But knowing you, I doubt he did anything you didn’t deserve.”_

_Evie didn’t know what to say. She didn’t think there was anything to say; no matter what, it would be wrong and she would be punished._

_Grimhilde’s smile quickly turned to a snarl as she snatched a handful of Evie’s hair, bringing her closer until their faces were inches apart. “Tell me, Genevieve, where were you really going?”_

_“I was meeting up with a friend.” Evie quickly lied. “I need more chemicals to make scar cream. I don’t want to ruin my skin.”_

_Her mother’s face softened for a second as she slowly smiled. “Oh my, you really think I’m a fool, don’t you?” she yanked her hair even harder, making Evie whimper involuntarily. She flinched when her mother raised her hand to grab her chin. “You do know that your prince and I speak to one another, right? I found it a little strange that he was telling me that every time the two of you spend time together, he was dropping you off a full day before I saw you. I can only think of one possible explanation- you must be going somewhere else for the night and then returning to the castle.”_

_Evie stared into her mother’s cold, cruel face, wondering what would happen next. There’s no way she didn’t know she was seeing Mal._

_She wondered if this would finally be enough for her to just kill her. It honestly wouldn’t be unwelcomed at this point._

_“Tell me, Genevieve. Even after I have brought countless men in to fuck you, after I have locked you away for days, after I allowed people to mark up your skin, after I marked up your skin myself, after I sold you to a prince, are you still running off to mess around with Maleficent’s daughter?”_

_Maybe if she had food or water or rest the past couple of days, Evie wouldn’t have done it. Maybe if she wasn’t in pain and missing Mal more than ever, she wouldn’t have gotten up the courage. But for some reason, she spoke without thinking._

_“Yes, Mother. I was going to see Mal and no matter what you do to me, I’m always going to go back to her.” Evie smirked. “You should see us together in the market. She can’t keep her hands off of me. Everyone talks about how even though you put in so much work, your daughter still grew up and started kissing a girl.” Evie studied her mother’s face, seeing it getting redder by the second. She should have stopped there, but she couldn’t. “The only way you’ll ever get me to stop is if you kill me.”_

_The Evil Queen pulled her face closer until their noses were nearly touching. “You worthless, disgusting bitch.” She shoved her as hard as she could, sending Evie flying to the ground. She didn’t even have a second to react before her mother’s heel was pressed into her throat. “It would be too easy to kill you. I’m just going to make it so your precious Mal is too disgusted to even look at you ever again. After everyone hears about how many people you have been fucking around with, no one is going to want to come close to you.”_

_Her mother grabbed her arm so hard she nearly pulled it out of the socket. Even though it felt good to talk back, Evie was now realizing her mistake. She tried to yank her arm away, but she was so weak after being stuck with Quinton for the past few days._

_She was practically dragged back into the castle. “GET UP THE STAIRS!”_

_Evie did as she said, starting to head towards her room._

_“Oh no. You’re not going there yet.” Her mother shoved her up against the wall. “Get undressed.”_

_“Mother, I…”_

_She didn’t even realize her mother had punched her in the mouth until she tasted the blood. Then, she was ripping her clothes from her body until Evie was naked._

_“You think you can speak to me that way, you slut? You think you will get away with the way you have acted?” her mother choked her. “I should have killed you the minute you were born. You are a fucking disappointment. Do you know what I’m going to do?” she squeezed even harder and Evie felt her vision start to blur. “You’re going to have an extra special lesson. I’ve been saving this one up because I didn’t want to taint you too much, but you’ve shown me that you are past that point. If the boy isn’t enough to make you listen to me, then maybe a man can take care of the job. This man will tear your body apart, Genevieve. I’m going to let him do it over and over until you’re begging me to kill you. Then, I will have someone bring me your precious Mal and I will let her see how you let a man touch you. Then, I will hand you back over to Quinton. You will never get a break, do you hear me? Your life as you know it now is over.”_

_She finally dropped her and Evie gasped for air, but couldn’t stand. Her entire body was on fire and she felt tears filling her eyes. She didn’t know what to do, but she couldn’t let her put her through this. She had to figure out a way to kill herself fast._

_While she sat there trying to breathe, her mother went downstairs to open the door. Evie’s breath caught in her throat when she saw him. She had never seen this man before and she didn’t know his name, but she knew his reputation. He wasn’t a part of any of the main heroes’ stories, but he was one of the most brutal and violent of the villains on the Isle. He was thrown there specifically for hurting a woman the way her mother was about to let him hurt her._

_“Get up, dyke.” Her mother grabbed her by the hair again and dragged her to her feet. She shoved her into her bedroom until her back slammed against her bed. Evil Queen looked at her with a sick smile, then turned to the man. “She’s all yours.” She walked out, letting the door shut behind her._

\-----

_Evie’s entire body shook as the man passed out half on top of her. She couldn’t even feel pain anymore, she just felt completely numb. She had to get out of here. If she didn’t get out now, she was going to die. While that didn’t sound particularly unappealing, she couldn’t let her mother have the satisfaction._

_She slid her hand over the side of her mattress, feeling something sharp pierce her skin. She grasped it a little tighter, ignoring how it dug into her palm and made a cut. When Evie pulled her hand up, there was blood dripping down it, but she was holding the knife._

_The knife was given to her by Mal, who made her promise to keep it with her. Evie’s mother checked her over every single day, so she couldn’t hide it anywhere with her. She had stashed it under her mattress so her mother wouldn’t find it._

_Maybe this was her way out._

_She let her free hand drift up the man’s back, trying to count his ribs so she could figure out exactly where his heart was. He was muscular, but like most of the others on the Isle, he didn’t get proper food portions. If she just dug the knife in hard enough, she could do it._

_Evie bit into her lip as she lifted the knife so it was over his heart. She tried to take a deep breath, but she hadn’t felt like she could breathe for a long time now. She brought the knife down as hard as she could._

_His eyes flew open and he looked at her. Evie pulled the knife out and brought it down again, and again, and again until there was no life left in him._

_Her hands shook as she pulled the knife out for the last time. She squeezed out from under him, and practically jumped off the bed. She scooted as far away from him as possible.  
Her dark blue sheets were drenched in blood, make them appear almost purple. _

_Purple._

_Evie had to go._

_She hastily pulled on some clothes, feeling her body ache in protest at the way she was moving. Right now, she knew she couldn’t think about that. This was her one shot and she had to take it. Evie kept her knife in her hand and went to the window._

_She wasn’t as good of a climber as Mal or Jay, but she had done this enough times that she knew where to put her hands and feet. It was dark now, providing some cover as she scaled the side of the castle._

_As soon as Evie’s feet hit the ground, she ran. She had never run as fast as she was right now. If her mother saw her, she was dead. She had to move now._

_The hideout was about a fifteen minute walk from the castle, so she started to count. If she could just count to 60 fifteen times, she would be there._

_Evie had counted to 60 six times now. She was up to 28 when her body crashed into someone else, sending her flying to the ground._

_“Watch where you’re going before I break your legs!” Evie scooted as far away from the person as she could. Her heart was racing but she couldn’t feel anything else. “Whoa, Blue? Is that you?”_

_Evie recognized the voice, but she couldn’t look at the person. She didn’t have time, she just needed to go. She was still too close to the castle. She brought the knife up, holding it out towards them._

_“Get away from me.”_

_“Evie, you need to breathe. It’s okay.”_

_Evie’s eyes finally focused and she saw the person kneeling next to her left side. “Uma?” she practically whispered._

_“Yeah, it’s Uma. Calm down.”_

_Evie looked around and saw two tall figures standing on her right side. She instantly flinched, shuffling over until she was close to Uma._

_“Hey, it’s just Harry and Gil. You’re safe, Princess.”_

_“Please.” Evie whimpered._

_“Evie, it’s me. It’s Harry.” She heard a voice from the right side of her body._

_She couldn’t handle it. She practically threw herself at Uma. “Please Uma, please. They can’t see me.”_

_“I’m gonna take this.” Uma said, prying her fingers off the knife and taking it from her. Evie didn’t have the strength to fight her._

_“We’ve got to move.” Harry said. “Hey Eves, I don’t know what happened, but something tells me that someone is going to be looking for you.”_

_That’s when Evie looked over at the dark haired boy. “She’s gonna kill me, Harry. She’s gonna fucking kill me.”_

_“Can I touch you?” Evie flinched as soon as he said the word. “I know, I’m so sorry, but we have to move. I can carry you, okay? We’re not going to let anyone hurt you.”_

_“I’m right here. If anyone tries something, we’ll kick their asses.” Uma said from beside her. “Harry, pick her up.”_

_Evie cried out when she felt her body being scooped up. She wrapped her arms around Harry’s neck and tried to keep her eyes open. She needed to stay aware. She had to watch out for danger._

_“Where’s your girl, Blue?”_

_“Mal.” She instantly started to move in Harry’s arms. Her vision was starting to blur and she could hear her heartbeat in her ears. “I have to find Mal.”_

_“Gil, I don’t care what you have to do, you better get Mal and her crew to our place. Now.” Uma hissed. “Gil will get them.”_

_That was the last thing Evie heard before she was taken over by darkness._

\-----

_When Evie opened her eyes, she was in an unfamiliar place. She was laying on a bed. She looked around, trying to find a way out. Where was she?_

_She tried to move but pain shot through her entire body. She let out a groan, then heard shuffling._

_“Evie, it’s Uma.” She followed the sound of her voice, turning her head until her eyes were on the other girl. “Don’t move, okay? I don’t want you to hurt yourself.”_

_“I have to go.”_

_“No, you need to stay here. Your crew’s on the way. Gil went to get them, they should be back any minute.”_

_Evie heard loud stomps and before she could stop herself, she jumped, falling over the side of the bed. She brought her knees up to her chest._

_“Shit. It’s fine, it’s just some of my crew. We’re on the lower deck of the boat.” Uma moved so she was in her sightline._

_Evie studied the pirate. She and Uma weren’t exactly friends, and Uma and Mal hated each other. She didn’t understand why she had taken her here. Was she just bringing her here to torture her? Was she holding her as leverage to get something from Mal?_

_She scanned the room, looking for a weapon or a way out. The room had two twin sized beds across from each other, a table in the middle of them. Uma was right across from her, their backs leaning against opposite beds. She would have to pass her to get to the door. Evie kept looking, her eyes going to the table. That’s when she spotted her knife._

_Uma must have realized at the same time as her because when Evie lunged for the knife, Uma reached out too. Evie got there first and grasped the handle tightly in her hand._

_“Stay away from me.”_

_“Evie…”_

_“I’m not staying here. You’re not using me.”_

_Uma looked confused. “I brought you here because you’re hurt and you needed help.”_

_“You don’t know what I need.” Evie stood up, still pointing the knife towards Uma. Her hand slipped down and the blade pierced her skin again. That’s when she got the idea._

_She could end it right now and then her mother couldn’t hurt her anymore. She had found the right spot on the man to shove the knife. She could find the right spot on her own body too._

_Evie turned the knife towards her stomach._

_“Evie, listen to me. Put the knife down.”_

_Evie shook her head. “You don’t get it. No one will ever get it.”_

_“Try and explain it to me.”_

_“She’s going to always come back until she finds me. I’ll never get away. She won’t kill me and I can’t let her torture me.”_

_Evie pressed the knife closer. She wished that she could see Mal and the boys one last time. She hoped they understood how much she loved them._

_“I can’t be here anymore.” Evie said._

_“Think about Mal. What would she say right now?” Uma was standing now, and she looked a little desperate. Almost like she was scared. Why would she be scared?_

_Evie shook her head. “I can’t stay.”_

_“Mal would tell you to put the knife down. She may be an unbearable bitch, but the two of you have real love, Evie. I’ve seen it. Not many people on the Isle get to experience happiness, but I know you have when you’re with her. Let’s just sit down and talk, okay?”_

_“I can’t talk.” Evie shut her eyes. “I have to do it now. I’m sorry.” She pulled the knife back, but right before she could shove it into her stomach, she heard a loud crashing noise._

_Evie’s eyes flew open involuntarily and then, she saw Mal. Her eyes were glowing brighter than she had ever seen before. Her hair was wild around her and her chest was heaving, as if she had been running. Harry was right behind her and seconds later, Jay and Carlos skidded to a stop behind him._

_“Hey baby girl.” Mal said as she stepped slowly into the room._

_“I’m sorry.” Evie whimpered. “I can’t, Mal. I’m sorry.”_

_“Me too.” Mal replied._

_Suddenly, Evie felt a tight grip on her wrist as Mal bent it sharply to the side. The knife clattered against the floor._

_“No, no, no, no.” Evie sobbed._

_“Shhh, I know, baby.” Mal wrapped her arms around her waist, pulling her into her as they sank to the floor. “It’s okay, Pretty Girl. You’re safe.”_

_“Please.” She begged._

_“Shhh.” Evie could feel Mal’s fingers running through her hair as she pushed her head down to rest on her shoulder. “Just breathe, baby.”_

_“Let me go. Please, just let me go.” Evie cried as she struggled in her arms._

_“I can’t do that.” Mal kissed her forehead. “I love you, Evie.” She kissed her cheek. “I love you.” She kissed the top of her head, leaving her lips pressed there. “I love you.” She started to rock her and Evie felt her body begin to calm down._

_Evie scooted closer, nuzzling her face into Mal’s neck. Mal was here now, she could keep her safe. She let her eyes shut._

\-----

_When Dizzy busted into the hideout, Mal was surprised, to say the least. The younger girl had only been there once before with Evie, and she didn’t expect her to remember where it was. Something must have happened because she looked close to tears._

_“Hey Diz, what’s up?” Mal greeted, jumping to her feet to approach her._

_“Gil came to my grandmother’s shop.” Dizzy said, her voice shaking. “He didn’t know where to find you and he thought maybe I would.”_

_“Did he hurt you?”_

_“No. He said that Evie is hurt really bad. Uma and Harry took her back to their place and you need to go now.”_

_Carlos and Jay were on their feet before Mal could even say a word. “Go back to the shop. Don’t leave no matter what, do you hear me?”_

_“Mal, what’s going on? Is Evie okay?” Dizzy questioned._

_“Do not leave the shop.” Mal insisted as they all took off running down the stairs._

_Curl Up ‘N Dye was on the way towards the Slop Shop, so they ran there with Dizzy. Mal saw Gil waiting outside._

_“Go, Diz.” Carlos ordered. Luckily, she listened right away._

_“What the fuck is going on?” Mal demanded._

_“I don’t know. We were out by the market on one of our runs and she came out of nowhere. She’s all bruised up and covered in blood and she wouldn’t let anyone touch her. She wouldn’t even let me or Harry near her, then she said ‘she’s gonna kill me’.”_

_“Take me to her now.” Mal growled._

_She had never moved so quickly in her life. She didn’t even know what to expect. Why was Evie covered in blood? Was it from Quinton? If she had said ‘she’s gonna kill me’, that made Mal believe that it had to do with her mother, but how?_

_It had been a week since she last saw her girlfriend, so she didn’t even know what state she would be in. Her heart raced as her mind went to worst case scenario._

_As soon as they saw the pirate ship, Gil shouted out that they would be downstairs. Mal didn’t care that the ship was full of a rival crew, she charged on board, hearing Gil yell that she was with him. She took the stairs two at a time until she came to a closed door._

_Mal opened the door, hearing it clatter loudly against the wall. Nothing could have prepared her for what was in front of her._

_Evie was standing there with a knife pressed against her stomach. Her makeup was running, her hair was a wreck, and she was wearing mismatched clothes. Mal could see that Evie’s neck, arms, and hands were all covered in blood. It looked dried up, besides a spot on her hand where blood was dripping onto the floor. She was hyperventilating, her eyes were scanning around the room unfocused, and there were tears falling down her cheeks. She was covered in bruises and it was obvious she was in pain._

_“Hey baby girl.” Mal said confidently before taking a slow step into the room. She couldn’t show how scared she was or that would just freak Evie out more. She needed to be in control of her emotions._

_“I’m sorry.” Evie’s voice cracked when she spoke, and she shook her head back and forth. “I can’t, Mal. I’m sorry.”_

_The knife moved again and Mal knew what she had to do. She needed that knife out of Evie’s hand before she could make any drastic movements._

_“Me too.” Mal lunged forward, grabbing Evie’s right wrist and twisting it hard to the side. Evie cried out in pain, but the knife fell to the ground. Mal used her foot to kick it to the side._

_“No, no, no, no.” Evie wailed._

_Mal had never felt so sick in her life. How had they gotten to here? How could the beautiful, blue-haired little six-year-old she saw for the first time in the market have turned into this girl?_

_“Shhh, I know, baby.” Mal pulled her close, ignoring the way Evie fought her grasp. She used her strength to lower them to the ground. “It’s okay, Pretty Girl. You’re safe.”_

_She held Evie on her lap, which was normally her favorite place to be. Right now, Evie was still fighting. “Please.”_

_“Shhh.” Mal stroked her hair. She just needed her to calm down. She pushed her head down until it rested on her shoulder, then started to run her fingers through the tangled blue hair. She felt sick when she noticed dried blood. “Just breathe, baby.”_

_“Let me go. Please just let me go.” Evie’s voice was desperate, her hands trying to push Mal away._

_Mal felt her heart shatter. It might be selfish, but she couldn’t live in a world without Evie. “I can’t do that.” Then, she did the only thing she could think of. She started to press kisses into her skin, whispering that she loved her. She didn’t care that love was weakness. She didn’t care that Uma, Harry, and Gil were watching. Right now, the only person that mattered was Evie. She just needed to get her girl calmed down before she hurt herself. She rocked back and forth._

_All of a sudden, the tension in Evie’s body released. Instead of pushing, she was now pulling her closer. She felt Evie bury her face in her neck and Mal sighed in relief and shut her eyes. She just continued to stroke her hair until she felt soft, even breaths against the skin on her neck._

_Eventually, Mal worked up the energy to open her eyes. Uma was sitting across from her. Jay was next to Mal and Carlos was directly across from him. Gil and Harry were sitting near the door. Everyone was dead silent, and Mal could see tear tracks on all of their cheeks._

_“Is she sleeping?” Jay whispered._

_Mal nodded. “What happened?” she asked softly. Power and appearances didn’t matter. She just needed to know what to do next._

_“We were out and she came running towards us out of nowhere. I don’t even think she was paying attention because she crashed into me so hard that she fell on the ground.” Uma explained. “I kneeled down next to her because I could tell something was up. She was all bloody and I was trying to see where the injury was from, but I couldn’t tell. She was obviously in pain, but she didn’t mention it. She just kept saying she had to go. When she saw Harry and Gil, she practically climbed onto my lap and kept saying they couldn’t see her.”_

_Mal leaned down and pressed a kiss against Evie’s forehead. Her heart absolutely ached for her girl._

_“Did you give her the knife?” Jay questioned._

_Harry spoke up. “I don’t know where she got the knife from, but it was with her and it was covered in blood already.”_

_“I gave it to her a while ago, for emergencies.” Mal answered._

_“I told her we had to move.” Harry stated. “She said ‘she’s going to fucking kill me, Harry’. I think we all know who she was talking about.”_

_Mal felt anger fill her. “No, I don’t think you know.”_

_Harry frowned. “I know better than anyone.”_

_“You get to live here on your cushy little boat while she’s being tortured every fucking day. You don’t understand.”_

_“Alright, stop.” Uma interrupted. “Now is not the time. Evie didn’t want Harry to touch her, but we had to move, so he picked her up. She passed out on the way back here. When she woke up, I was in here with her. I told her not to move so she wouldn’t hurt herself, but she just said she had to go. I told her you guys were on your way, but then she got scared by some of the crew stomping around on the upper deck. Then all of a sudden, she was diving for the knife. She pointed it at me and said she had to leave and that I couldn’t use her. She turned it around on herself and I kept trying to get her to talk or put it down, but she wouldn’t listen.”_

_Mal hugged Evie tighter and kissed her cheek. “We owe you for helping her. Let us know when we can repay.” She stood up, keeping Evie in her arms._

_“No.” Harry objected. “This wasn’t a favor. We don’t expect anything in return.” He stepped forward. “You should stay here for tonight.”_

_“We’ll be fine.”_

_“Whatever she was running from is going to still be an issue right now. More time has passed, so someone has to be looking for her.” Harry stated. “It’s going to be hard running when she’s passed out. Just stay here for tonight, let things blow over. You can leave tomorrow.”_

_“He’s right, Mal.” Carlos said. “It’s too far.”_

_Mal looked at Uma, raising an eyebrow. “You’re cool with this?”_

_Uma went over to Harry, resting an arm on his shoulder. “If he is, I am.”_

_“We appreciate it.” Jay told them._

_Mal turned, laying Evie down on one of the twin beds. She lifted Evie’s arms carefully, examining them for any type of wound, but she didn’t see any._

_“Can you tell where the blood is from?” Jay wondered._

_“Both of her hands have cuts on them, but they’re not deep enough for that.” Evie’s left hand was sliced down her palm and still bleeding. Her right hand had a small cut that wasn’t too deep. “I don’t know what to do.”_

_“Just check under her clothes.” Uma said as if it was obvious._

_“No.” Mal objected immediately. “Not while she’s sleeping.” She regretted saying it, knowing that it implied too much._

_“What do you need?” Harry asked._

_“Clean water, wash cloths, bandages if you have it.” Mal listed off._

_“Got it.”_

_“I can get her clean clothes.” Uma offered, earning a nod back from Mal. Gil and Harry went with her to gather supplies, leaving Mal alone with her crew._

_“What the fuck.” Jay said as he sat on the twin bed across from them. “What are we going to do?”_

_“I don’t know.”_

_“Something bad must have happened. Why else would she be running away covered in blood?”_

_“I don’t know, Jay!” Mal snapped._

_“Tension is high right now. Let’s try to stay calm.” Carlos interrupted before they could start to argue._

_It didn’t take long for the pirates to return. They brought back clean clothes, a towel, bandages, a large bucket of warm water, alcohol, wash cloths, and food. Uma assured them that the room was theirs for the night and no one would bother them. She told them to come upstairs if they needed anything, and then they were gone._

_Mal got to work on cleaning up Evie’s face first. It was covered in specks of blood. She dipped the wash cloth into the water, then ran it carefully over her face to remove the blood, dirt, and makeup that had built up. She noticed that Evie’s bottom lip was split open and swollen, and there were hand shaped bruises on her chin. Mal felt her blood boil; Evie had told her about EQ’s tendency to grab her chin, so she knew that had to be from her. She had dark circles under her eyes and other smaller bruises randomly across her face._

_Mal didn’t even want to touch her neck. That was one thing that pissed her off to no end; she couldn’t stand seeing the varying shades of yellow and purple on her girlfriend’s neck. She couldn’t help but imagine her gasping for air and screaming for help. She gently wiped off the dried up blood that had gathered there._

_Evie started to move. Mal scooted closer to her, wanting her to see her and know that she was safe. Evie’s eyes fluttered open and as soon as she saw Mal, she gave her a small smile._

_Mal could tell the exact moment that everything rushed back to her. Evie’s smile dropped and she frowned instantly. Her eyes started to dart around the room._

_“Listen to me, Evie. You’re safe, okay? It’s just us, and Jay and Carlos. You know we wouldn’t let anyone get near you. Just stay calm, okay?” she leaned down, letting her forehead rest against Evie’s._

_“Do you think I’m crazy?” Evie rasped._

_“I think you’ve been through a lot of shit.” Mal answered. “We’ll figure this out, okay? But right now, I need you to tell me where you’re hurting. You are covered in blood, but I didn’t want to undress you while you were sleeping, so I don’t know where it came from.”_

_“It’s not mine.” Evie whispered._

_Mal frowned. “Then whose is it?”_

_Evie just turned her head so she was staring at the wall. Mal reached out to stroke her cheek and Evie leaned into her touch immediately._

_“Can I help you get undressed so you can get cleaned up?” Mal wondered._

_“Mmhmm.” Evie sat up slowly. “M?”_

_“Yeah?”_

_“I’m sorry I’m so broken.”_

_“You’re not broken, baby.” Mal touched their foreheads together again. “You are so strong, my love.”_

_“If you want to leave me, I understand.” Evie’s eyes welled up with tears. “I won’t blame you.”_

_“Nope, you’re stuck with me.” Mal kissed her cheek. “I’m here until the end, do you understand me? Nothing you say or do can get rid of me.”_

_“I don’t deserve you.”_

_“Oh baby.” Mal whispered. “You deserve so much more than what you’ve been given.” She felt a tear slide down her own cheek. Evie leaned forward and kissed it away. “Come on, let’s get your shirt off.”_

_Mal helped Evie out of her shirt. She was surprised to see that there was blood covering her entire chest and stomach. Mal worked quickly but gently to wipe it away, seeing Evie squeeze her eyes shut so she wouldn’t have to watch._

_She found dark purple bruises on her back and ribs, and a small cut on her stomach by her belly button. She realized that that must have been caused by the knife and it made her throat clench._

_Evie’s legs were always the worst part, but Mal knew it had to be done. She pulled her pants off, feeling her anger rise when she saw the hand shaped bruises on Evie’s hips._

_“Baby, are these from Q?” she couldn’t help but ask. Something wasn’t right here. Evie had been dealing with Quinton for three months, and he was pretty consistent. Some of these injuries weren’t matching up with the ones Evie usually had from him._

_Evie shook her head no._

_Mal moved slowly. The blood had reached all the way down to Evie’s thighs, and then it stopped. It was like someone had dropped a bucket of blood on top of her. She had some scattered cuts, so Mal wetted a cloth with some of the alcohol, then dabbed it over top to clean it. She wrapped it in a bandage. By the time Evie was completely cleaned up, her teeth were chattering._

_“Let’s get your clean clothes on.” Mal kissed her forehead. Uma had given them sweatpants, a long sleeved shirt, and a pair of socks. Mal helped Evie get dressed, wrinkling her nose at how different she smelled. “I want to look at your head now, okay? I saw some dried up blood in your hair.”_

_“Okay.” Evie’s voice was tiny._

_Mal really wanted to wash Evie’s hair, but the water in the bucket was the color of blood now and they didn’t have soap. She looked towards Jay and nodded towards the bucket. He grabbed it and left the room._

_Evie reached her hand out and wrapped it around the bottle of alcohol. Mal was a little surprised when she brought it up to her lips and took a drink, but if it helped her pain, she didn’t necessarily mind. She let Evie take one more drink before taking it out of her hand; she figured she probably hadn’t eaten much and she didn’t need her getting drunk._

_Jay returned with a fresh bucket of water and a bar of soap. Mal didn’t see any injuries on Evie’s head, and she was glad to wash the dried up blood out of her hair. Now, she was completely clean, but they were so far from being done with dealing with this situation._

_“Alright baby, we’re here and we’ve got your back, but we need to know what we’re dealing with.” Mal told Evie as she pulled her over onto her lap. Carlos came over and sat next to her, and Jay sat on the floor in front of them._

_Evie recounted the story of what she had been through. She described being dropped off by Quinton, her mother finding her in the market, their argument, and then being brought back to the house. That’s when she started to get quiet._

_“You’re doing such a good job, my Princess.” Mal encouraged. “What happened after you got home?”_

_“She punched me in the mouth.” Mal gently ran her finger over the split on Evie’s bottom lip. “She stripped me out of my clothes, then choked me until I almost passed out.” Evie brought her fingers up to grab her neck as she spoke. Mal reached out and tangled their fingers together instead, not wanting her to hurt herself. “She said she’s been saving this because she didn’t want my body to be tainted, but that I needed a special lesson.” Evie whimpered._

_“Who was it?”_

_“The man everyone talks about. The one who goes after women.”_

_Mal knew instantly who Evie was referring to, and she knew Jay and Carlos did too based on their facial expressions. Mal knew that her mother even avoided this particular villain, which was saying a lot._

_Evie’s voice took on the detached tone that she tended to switch to when the story got too hard to tell. “My mother said he would tear my body apart over and over again, and then she would go get you so you could see what I let him do to me.”_

_Mal felt physically ill. She tightened her grasp on Evie, nuzzling her neck. She needed a minute after that. She couldn’t even imagine seeing her girlfriend broken and hurt the way her mother wanted her to be. Once Mal calmed down, she gave her a gentle kiss and then nodded to tell her to continue._

_“He passed out.” Evie said, skipping over the actual details. She never told them what happened during her lessons, and Mal was eternally grateful. She hated that Evie had to carry that weight on her own, but she didn’t know if she could handle knowing the specific things her girl was put through. “I was underneath him and I wanted to get out. I reached out to grab the mattress when I was trying to get up, but something cut my hand. That’s when I got the idea to grab the knife you gave me.”_

_“How did you cut your hand?” Mal questioned, holding up her left hand, the one that had been sliced open. She had cleaned it with alcohol and bandaged it, but she was still curious to know._

_“When I grabbed the knife, I couldn’t reach the handle, so I had to pull it by the blade. It cut my hand.” Evie’s eyes were far away and her body was trembling. Mal knew that whatever happened next wasn’t going to be good._

_“I love you.” Mal reminded her._

_“I love you too.” Evie stated. She turned to look at Mal. “I don’t know what to say next.”_

_“Just take it slow, baby. What did you do after you grabbed the knife.”_

_“I counted his ribs, and then I stabbed him in the back right where his heart was.”_

_Evie said it so quickly that it took a minute for the words to register. Mal felt her heart drop into her stomach. No, no, no. That couldn’t be right._

_“His eyes opened right away and stared at me.” Evie practically whispered. “I just pulled the knife out and stabbed it into his back over and over again. I killed him.”_

_Mal rubbed Evie’s back and held her close. Her sweet, kind, sensitive girlfriend didn’t deserve this. While most people on the Isle were cold and hardened to violence, Evie was not. Mal had killed someone before, Jay had killed someone before, but they never intended on having Evie and Carlos follow their lead. She had never wanted Evie to have to go through this._

_“I had to do it.” Evie whimpered. “If I didn’t get away from him, my mother would have kept torturing me. I had to leave, Mal. I had to do it.”_

_“I know, baby girl. You would never hurt someone if you didn’t have to. You did what you had to do to keep yourself safe and I am so proud of you.” Mal kissed her temple._

_“I want to forget.”_

_“Shhh, it’s okay.” Mal started to rock her. “Are you hungry? Uma brought food.”_

_“I can’t eat.”_

_“Okay.” Mal wouldn’t push her, not after what she had been through. “Do you want to sleep?”_

_“I don’t think I can.”_

_“Let’s just rest then.”_

_Evie lifted her head up and looked towards the boys. “Can we lay together?”_

_Mal knew that sometimes, Evie didn’t react well to Jay after something like this happened. She didn’t want to trigger her, but she knew having the boys close would make her feel safer. Mal laid down with her back against the wall. She pulled Evie into her arms, and Carlos laid on Evie’s other side. Jay sat at the end of the bed, pulling Evie’s feet into his lap._

_“Close your eyes, my love. It’s all over.” Mal whispered. “You can rest.”_

\-----

Everyone knew that the VKs were close. They all moved as a pack, and it was crazy how in tune they were with each other. Sometimes, it surprised Ben that they seemed to be able to have a whole conversation with only their eyes. 

It had been a little over eight weeks now since the VK Exchange Program was open. For two months, the four of them had lived in Auradon.

Ben had finally gotten the time to get them together to help him make a list of children. He decided to go visit the girls’ room, knowing it was a Sunday and that’s where they all usually hung out on the weekends. 

He could hear their voices as soon as he got out of the elevator. He frowned; were they fighting? Tension did seem to be getting higher between the four of them. Mal and Jay were arguing at breakfast yesterday, and he had even seen Evie snap at Carlos in class last week. They were subtle, but Ben had been paying close attention. He wondered what the problem was. He knew it wasn’t right, and it wasn’t something a king should do, but he walked closer to the door so he could listen. 

_“…and stop treating me like a fucking child! I can handle myself!”_

That was Evie. While she typically seemed like the most calm and put together of the four, Ben knew better. He knew she was struggling with an eating disorder, and though Fairy Godmother couldn’t tell him any specifics, she did say that Evie was making progress. He could also tell that there was still a lot to Evie that they hadn’t even begun to figure out yet. 

_“That’s not the problem here! We have no idea what’s waiting! If they see us come back, they are going to bring everything they have to the table, and I’m not willing to take that risk!”_

Uh-oh, if Mal was yelling at Evie, things were bad. He had seen the girls banter with each other, but it never got too serious. He wondered what she meant by ‘come back’. Come back where? 

_“Mal’s right, E. You need to take a couple steps back from the situation and think about what could happen.”_

Jay sounded irritated. How long had they been fighting for them to all sound so over it? Ben tried to listen closer- it sounded like Jay and Mal were both on the same side, so were the two of them arguing against Carlos and Evie? 

_“We’ve been dealing with this for close to a year and a half now. We’ve have honestly gotten lucky to avoid most of the trouble. Evie, you can’t ruin it now.”_

Nope, sounded like Carlos was on Mal and Jay’s side too. So what was bad enough that the three of them were ganging up on Evie? 

_“It’s been too long. I can’t just keep waiting around. It’s not fair for you to ask me to stay.”_

Evie’s voice was choked up, almost like she was about to cry. Ben didn’t like the idea of her being upset. 

_“I know, baby. Nothing is fair in this situation, but we have to do what’s best for everyone. I need you safe and alive.”_

Ben decided that now wasn’t a good time to interrupt them, so he turned and walked back to the elevator. He felt guilty for eavesdropping, but the four teenagers just fascinated him so much. He wished they would confide in him. He would do anything to help if they just gave him the chance. 

\-----

Carlos could see Evie’s patience waning more and more each day. She was taking new anxiety medicine, actually eating meals, and as far as he knew, she hadn’t thrown up. She actually seemed to have the eating issues in check for once, but he could tell that her mental state was a mess. 

Evie wasn’t designing anymore. That was always a great outlet for her stress, but he knew that when she got too overwhelmed, she stopped. Carlos was surprised since she had people waiting on orders from her, but every time he came to the girls’ room, Evie was laying in bed. 

It broke his heart to see one of his best friends struggling so much. Every day that passed, Evie got more and more restless and it was starting to rub off on everyone else. 

He noticed her and Mal bickering more. It was strange because their relationship was actually at a really good place right now, and he had noticed Mal letting Evie be a lot more independent. She wasn’t policing her eating habits anymore, and that took a lot of weight off her shoulders. But now, they were arguing about little things. It was never too serious and they were fine a few minutes later, but it was a new change to their relationship that he definitely took note of. 

Jay was a lot more aggressive. In their last Tourney game, he had gotten benched for getting too rough with a player on the opposite team. Carlos could see the energy practically seeping from his body, and he knew Jay was starting to get nervous. He always overcompensated for his feelings by being aggressive.

But it was Mal whose change was the most obvious. She was always on the defensive, ready to pounce on anyone who dared to get close enough. She was moody and picked fights with Jay on purpose. She even tried to bait Carlos sometimes, but he just ignored it. He hadn’t talked to her about the changes he noticed in Evie, but he could tell Mal noticed too. Mal could always pick up on the slightest change in her girlfriend. He could see she was worried, and he wondered if maybe she was overcompensating too, but with anger. 

It was currently Wednesday and classes had just ended. Evie had therapy today, and on those days, Mal usually walked her to Fairy Godmother’s office and waited for her to get done. The boys would grab something to eat, and then the four of them would meet back up at Tourney practice. 

“You don’t have to wait for me.” Evie told Mal. “I can go by myself today.” 

Carlos saw Mal frowning immediately. “I don’t mind.” 

There was something different about Evie today. She was obviously feeling anxious, and she had been biting her lip, bouncing her leg, and pinching herself all day. Her eyes looked kind of dazed, like she wasn’t completely paying attention. It gave Carlos an unsettling feeling in his stomach. 

“Really, I’m fine. Go with the boys.” 

“You good, E?” Carlos glanced at Jay, who was frowning. Then, he looked to Mal, who he knew could definitely tell something was up. 

“Yeah, everything’s good.” She nodded her head and forced a smile. 

Carlos could tell her hands were shaking. Evie’s eyes met his, and then she put her hands in her jacket pockets. She gave him an almost pleading look. 

“Okay, see you at Tourney.” Carlos grabbed Jay’s arm, pulling him in the other direction. “Come on, Mal.” 

Mal was still staring Evie down. “You sure you’re good?” 

“I’ll see you soon.” Evie said. She leaned in and cupped Mal’s cheek, giving her a gentle kiss. “I love you.”

Now, Carlos knew something was _definitely_ up. It was obvious that Mal and Evie loved each other, anyone with eyes could see that. But they didn’t just casually say it when they were separating in the hallway. 

“Evie, dear, are you ready?” Fairy Godmother called from her office. 

“I love you too.” Mal told her. She still didn’t seem convinced that she should leave. “E…”

“Bye, M.” Evie turned and went to Fairy Godmother’s office. She looked back over her shoulder at them, offering a small smile and a wave, then disappeared into the room. 

“Something’s wrong.” Mal said as soon as it was just the three of them. 

“Yeah, that was weird.” Jay agreed. “Has she ever told you to leave before?” 

“No. It’s not only that. She was obviously nervous about something, and she’s been quiet all day. I don’t like this.” 

“Let’s just go get food. I’m sure she can get to Tourney by herself after therapy.” Carlos said.

“But why would she want Mal to leave?” Jay questioned. 

“Maybe she has to talk about something tough in therapy today. Maybe she had a slip up and she’s too embarrassed to tell us, but she’ll tell Dr. Bren and FG. We need to trust her.” Carlos reminded them. 

Mal sighed, but nodded. “Let’s go to the cafeteria.” 

\-----

Evie’s palms were sweaty, but no matter how many times she wiped them on her pants, she started to sweat again. She could feel Dr. Bren’s and FG’s eyes on her as she walked into the room. She went over and sat in her usual seat. 

“Hello, Evie.” Dr. Bren greeted. Evie’s relationship with the therapist had definitely improved. After seeing how much work went into trying to treat her eating disorder, Evie had a better understanding of Dr. Bren. She knew that she really was trying to help. 

Right now, she had to trust that both of these Auradon women would help her. She could just sit around and wait anymore. It was time to take action. 

She just hoped her friends would forgive her. 

“Evie?” Fairy Godmother called out. She looked at her, trying to take a deep breath and gain the courage to actually go through with her plan. 

“I have something to tell you.” Evie blurted out before she chickened out. 

“We’re here to listen.” FG encouraged. 

Evie shut her eyes, took a deep breath, and then told them her biggest secret. She didn’t tell them all the details (she didn’t know if she could ever tell anyone everything), but she finally admitted the secret she had been holding onto for the past two months in Auradon, and for over a year before that on the Isle. She kept her eyes glued to the table, not wanting to see the looks on their faces. 

She just hoped that when they threw her back on the Isle, Mal was nowhere near her. Evie couldn’t bear the thought of Mal looking at her in disappointment. 

When Evie finished speaking, she took a second to gather herself, then looked at Fairy Godmother and Dr. Bren. Both of them had tears in their eyes. 

“You need to talk to Prince Ben about this.” Dr. Bren told her. 

“King Adam and Queen Belle are going to want to be involved too.” Fairy Godmother added. “Do you mind if we call them?” 

Evie shrugged. She knew FG and Dr. Bren wouldn’t let her refuse, so she didn’t bother to object. 

“Do you want me to call Mal and the boys too?” FG asked. Evie didn’t answer. “I’m assuming they know already?” Evie nodded. “Did they know you were going to tell us?” she shook her head no. “Let’s call them. You can use the support, Evie.” 

Evie just let her eyes close, hoping that she had done the right thing. 

\-----  
 _Evie heard movement outside of the hideout. She tried to get to her feet, but the alcohol that was rushing through her veins made it difficult. She used the couch to help pull herself up and then stumbled over to the window._

_She could see her crew, talking and joking around as they walked closer to the hideout. She wished she could be with them. It had been 51 days since she left her new home and she was ready for something to change._

_Evie took another drink from the bottle as she heard a rock hit the sign. A few seconds later, the door opened up._

_“E? Are you up?” Mal called out. She got up the stairs so quickly that Evie didn’t have time to hide the bottle. When she saw the alcohol, she sighed. “Baby, we talked about this. If you don’t eat enough, you’re going to get drunk way too quickly. You need your senses to stay sharp.”_

_“Why? It’s not like I’ll ever get to leave anyway.”_

_Mal frowned. “This isn’t permanent, Evie. You’re healing.”_

_“It’s been almost two months. I’m fine.” She brought the bottle up to her lips again._

_“Yeah, real convincing.” Mal took the alcohol. “We scrounged up some fabric. Why don’t you see what you can do with it?”_

_“I don’t want to.” Evie objected as she plopped down on the couch. Her ribs still burned when she sat the wrong way and it made her wince._

_“Come on, Eves. I was hoping you could show me.” Carlos tried._

_“I don’t feel like it.”_

_Jay came over and sat next to her, though he kept a safe distance between them. Evie hated that. He had been so careful around her and it was pissing her off._

_“You don’t have to scoot away.” She snapped._

_“Huh?” Jay asked, looking at her in confusion._

_“Unless you’re scooting away because you think I’m disgusting.”_

_“I’m just trying to give you a little space.”_

_“I don’t need space. I need everyone to stop treating me like I’m going to break.” Evie argued. “Why is this so different from the other million times? I fucked a guy, big deal.”_

_“You didn’t fuck anyone.” Mal instantly corrected. Evie knew it made her angry when she said that._

_Evie scoffed. “Tell that to my mother.”_

_“Listen to me. I know you’re pissed, and you have every right to be angry at almost every person in this world. But not us.” Mal said, gesturing towards herself, Jay, and Carlos. “We are doing what we can to keep you safe.”_

_Evie studied her. “So what, you’ll just keep me locked away in the hideout? That didn’t really work for Mother Gothel, did it?”_

_“You’re going to stay here until you’re strong enough to fight on your own. I have every intention of getting you back out to running shit with the rest of the crew. But I need you on the top of your game first.”_

_“I’m fine.”_

_“You’re not.”_

_“Why, because I’m drinking? Who cares? Everyone on the Isle drinks.”_

_“Evie, it’s late. We should go to bed.” Mal said._

_Evie felt her anger start to rise. No one ever let her feel the way she wanted to. Everyone was always trying to tell her how to feel._

_“I fucked a guy.” Evie repeated her words from earlier. “I fucked him, then I killed him. I’m over it.”_

_“Stop saying that.” Mal practically growled._

_“You can be mad at me, you know. I bet you hate me. I would hate me if I was you. I’m a horrible girlfriend, I cheat on you, I…”_

_“Will you stop!?” Mal finally yelled. Evie had baited her into it, but the volume still made her flinch. “Stop blaming yourself for things that you’re not responsible for! You didn’t make those choices, that was your mother. You are not to blame for anything that has happened to you. Don’t you understand that?”_

_Evie stared back at her, feeling the familiar emptiness in her chest. “Then why do I feel like it’s my fault?”_

_“Because you’re a good person.” Mal said, her voice much softer now. “Come here, baby.”_

_Evie got up, going over to where Mal was standing. The purple haired girl wrapped her up in her arms and Evie let out a sigh, relaxing into her touch._

_“It doesn’t matter that he was evil because you aren’t. I am so sorry you ever had to be in the position where your only choice was to kill someone.”_

_“Stop apologizing.” Evie said, her voice muffled. “It’s not your fault either.”_

_“I know that you hate being trapped here, but I can’t let your mother or Quinton find you. If that means you’re mad at me, then so be it. I need you to be safe. You will stay here until you can fight, and then once I think you’re ready, you can start going out with us again. But Evie, no matter what, I’m not letting you go back to your mother. I should have stopped you a long time ago and I hate myself every day for not doing it.”_

_“You couldn’t have stopped me.” Evie told her. “I think I had to make that choice by myself. But now, I’m never going to go back. I will kill myself before I go back to her.” She sighed, feeling the lightness that came with being drunk. “I’m a mess, Mal.”_

_“You’ll be better soon.” Mal reassured her. “It’s going to be okay.”_

\-----

_For the whole two months she had been locked away in the hideout, Evie had been crumbling. She was drinking, lashing out, and angry. At night, when it was just her and Mal, she usually cried and allowed herself to be comforted. Finally, after talking to Mal on day 51 of her being in hiding, Evie started to let go of a little of that anger._

_A week later, school opened back up. It was August, so she should have been expecting it, but Evie had been through so much that she forgot. Mal, Jay, and Carlos started to go to class occasionally (though never at the same time). Evie wanted to go, but Mal told her it was too big of a risk. That’s when things started to change._

_The first thing Mal noticed was that Evie was constantly tired. She would get home from one of their jobs or school and Evie would be fast asleep in their bed. She was always ready to sleep before any of the others, despite not really doing much throughout the day. Sometimes, she would even fall asleep on Mal’s lap after dinner when the four of them usually hung out with each other._

_Then, she started feeling sore. Mal knew that Evie’s ribs had been bruised up multiple times over the years, and they had gotten messed up again sometime between the week she spent with Quinton and the last night at her mother’s castle. They had mostly healed and Evie seemed to be doing well, but then suddenly, her whole body was hurting. The only thing Mal could think of was that she must have hurt her ribs again. She did find it weird though that Evie would practically beg her for a back rub, saying that her back, chest, and feet were the places it hurt the worst._

_After that, it was the vomiting. Mal would wake up in bed alone, sometimes in the morning and sometimes in the middle of the night. When she went looking for her girlfriend, she found her in the bathroom, emptying the contents of her stomach into the toilet. Her first thought was that it was related to her troubles with eating, and the second thought was that it was due to all the drinking Evie had been doing lately. But then, the drinking stopped and Mal saw that the puking really came out of nowhere._

_That’s when Mal started to worry. Was it nerves that was causing Evie’s behavior to change?_

_Then, she thought over the symptoms. Suddenly, it seemed like they had a much bigger problem on their hands._


	26. Coming Clean

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story has officially reached 200 comments! I am so grateful for all of your love and support. When I first wrote this, I was so nervous to post it because I had never written something so dark. Thank you all so much for being so dedicated, it really inspires me to want to continue to write this story! 
> 
> Also, I wanted to clarify because a few comments asked about this. The person Evie killed in the last chapter was just a random, unnamed villain- he won't have any bigger backstory or connection. When she spoke to Dr. Bren and FG, Evie only told them that she has a baby. She didn't mention how her child was conceived (though FG and Dr. Bren have been able to put together some information she's given them and they do have somewhat of a clue that Evie has been sexually assaulted before).

Evie didn’t know how much time had passed since she told Fairy Godmother and Dr. Bren the truth, but it felt like forever. The room was practically suffocating her. She was staring at the wall in a daze, trying to come to terms with what she had just done. 

She heard FG talking on the phone to Mal, and she knew she would be here any minute. Evie was praying she had made the right choice. She couldn’t mess this up when they had so much on the line. 

“Evie, honey, are you alright?” Dr. Bren asked. Her voice was too soft, and she had that look on her face that told Evie she pitied her. She wanted to be mad, she really did, but she guessed that if she was in the therapist’s position she would probably feel pity too. 

All of a sudden, the door was opening and Mal, Carlos, and Jay were rushing into the room. Evie didn’t have a second to brace herself before Mal was in front of her. 

“What’s wrong? What happened? Are you okay?” her eyes scanned over Evie’s face, her hands instantly coming up and resting on her shoulders. 

“I’m okay.” Evie said, trying to give her a small smile. 

“Why do I find that so hard to believe?” Jay wondered. 

“Yeah, time to tell the truth. What’s going on, E?” Carlos questioned. 

“I’m sick of waiting.” Evie told them. “I couldn’t wait anymore. It was time to do something.” 

Mal tilted her head slightly to the side. “Evie, what did you do?” 

“I told them the truth.” Evie practically whispered. 

“What?” Mal asked. Evie wasn’t sure if she had actually not heard her, or if she just didn’t believe that she did it. 

“I told them.” Evie repeated a little louder. 

Mal’s jaw locked and her entire body tensed up. Carlos and Jay immediately went to either of her sides, the three of them ready to attack if needed. 

“Please, sit.” Fairy Godmother encouraged. “Prince Ben and his parents are on their way. We’re going to get this all settled.”

“She’s not going back to the Isle.” Mal instantly snapped. 

“Mal, no one is saying that Evie will go to the Isle.” 

“You don’t know that. You don’t know what will happen when the great all-knowing king walks through the door. You have no idea all the shit that he has caused!” Mal shouted. “I don’t care what you all say, Evie is not going back to the Isle.” 

“Of course she’s not.” 

They all looked towards the door when they heard Ben’s voice. The young prince walked into the room. Evie assumed he felt the tension in the room because there wasn’t a trace of his usual smile on his face. 

“What’s going on?” Ben asked, looking from an upset Fairy Godmother, to an angry Mal, and finally his eyes landed on Evie. “FG said you needed to talk, Evie.” 

“Let’s wait for your parents. We’re all going to sit and we’ll talk this through.” Fairy Godmother stated. 

Mal refused to sit, standing by Evie’s side with her hand locked on her shoulder. Carlos sat on Evie’s other side with Jay next to him. Dr. Bren was still in her seat across from them, and FG sat next to her. Ben took a seat on Mal’s other side (though he did leave a chair open for her in case she decided she wanted to sit down). There were two empty chairs left between Ben and FG. 

It made Evie sick to think about talking to the King and Queen. The VKs had had very limited interaction with them, and it was honestly for the best. Everyone on the Isle blamed King Adam for all the troubles and misery that he had caused, and all of the villain children knew that it was his fault they were locked up for their parents’ crimes. 

A firm knock on the door snapped Evie out of her thoughts and she jumped slightly. Mal squeezed her shoulder and Evie looked up at her pleadingly. She reached up to lock their fingers and then pulled Mal over towards the empty chair. Her girlfriend sighed but gave in. She leaned in to kiss Evie’s forehead and then sat down. 

King Adam walked through the door first. He was tall, much taller than Evie remembered. She didn’t think she had seen him up close since the day they arrived in Auradon, which was now two months ago. He strutted into the room, oozing power and confidence. It made Evie sick. 

Queen Belle followed after him. Evie was surprised by her size too, not remembering that she was so tiny. She seemed softer, and stopped to cup Ben’s cheek as she walked past him. 

“Hello, Fairy Godmother.” Adam greeted. “What kind of trouble have they gotten themselves into?” 

That statement instantly rubbed the VKs the wrong way. Evie could feel the tension in the room heighten as her friends tensed up, sitting a little straighter. She felt like she was going to throw up. There was no way that this arrogant man sitting in front of her would ever care about her problems. 

“I don’t appreciate that comment.” Ben said, surprising everyone. “Mal, Jay, Evie, and Carlos have been practically model students and have had very little issues since coming to Auradon two months ago. It’s ignorant for you to assume that they got into trouble, Dad.” 

Evie felt a chill run down her spine. Why did Ben stand up for them? His father looked angry. How would he punish him for talking back? 

“Ben…” Adam began. 

“It’s my fault.” Evie interrupted. She jumped to her feet, causing all eyes to turn to her. 

“What is your fault, Evie?” Fairy Godmother asked. 

“I’m the one with a problem. Ben shouldn’t get in trouble for saying something. I’m the one who is responsible.” 

Belle was the one to stand. She slowly approached Evie, who took a step back, nearly stumbling when she bumped into her chair. “Evie, Ben isn’t in trouble.” She told her with a gentle smile. “We know he is going to be king soon, and we value hearing his thoughts and opinions. His father and I would never hurt him for speaking up when someone is wrong. I agree with Ben; Adam shouldn’t have made assumptions.” 

Evie frowned. They weren’t going to hurt Ben? Adam wouldn’t care that he talked back to him? 

“Are you alright?” Belle wondered. 

Evie’s eyes darted over to Adam. He was frowning, but he was still sitting. His fists weren’t clenched and he didn’t seem tense. Maybe it really was okay. 

“Yes.” Evie said, feeling her cheeks flush in embarrassment. 

“Evie, are you okay with all of us being in the room?” Dr. Bren wondered. She was sitting so quietly that Evie honestly forgot she was there. “If you want, some of us can leave.” 

Evie eyes darted towards Adam again, then back to Dr. Bren. “I’m okay.” 

“E, come sit.” Mal ordered, grabbing her hand and pulling her back over to her chair. She didn’t let go of her hand even once she sat down. Mal rubbed soothing circles into her skin, keeping her grounded. The room was silent as everyone settled down and adjusted to each other’s presence. 

Ben was the one to finally break. “Fairy Godmother, why are we here today? What’s going on?” 

Evie bit down hard on her lip as she stared at the older woman. She knew that she had to come clean. There was no way FG or Dr. Bren would just pretend that they didn’t hear her biggest secret. If she wanted things to change, she had to tell. 

Before Evie could speak, Mal was pulling her into a hug. Evie took a deep breath, trying to relax for a second. 

“You’ve got this, baby.” Mal whispered into her ear. “The boys and I have your back, always. You can do it.” 

Evie knew she was right. She had to be strong and confident right now. She sat up straight and looked the King of Auradon right in the eyes. 

“I have a baby.” 

The room was so silent that you could have heard a pin drop. All eyes were on the King and Queen as they reacted to the news. Ben’s mouth dropped open and he started to stutter. 

“A…a baby?” Ben looked at her in surprise. “How? When?” 

Evie looked right at him, knowing she would have to answer whatever questions that were coming next as best as she could. “She’s eight months old.” 

“You have a daughter.” Ben said in disbelief. “What happened to her?” 

“She’s on the Isle with someone I trust.” Evie responded. “But there’s not a lot of time, Ben. You’ve heard the reports that things are getting tense on the Isle. There are fights for territory constantly. My child has been kept a secret from almost everyone, including people there. There are people that would stop at nothing to hurt her if they were to find out she exists.” 

“Like the guy who video chatted you?” 

Evie felt her breath catch in her throat. “Especially him.” 

“I’m not understanding what we’re talking about here.” Adam interrupted. “You have a child? Why were we not notified about this before you were taken off the Isle?” 

“Because I had to keep her a secret so she would be safe. She’s not safe on the Isle anymore.” 

“You are sixteen.” Belle said. “How old were you when she was born?” 

“She was born five days before my 16th birthday.” 

“When I had Ben, I was in my 20s and it was difficult. You are so young, sweetheart. I worry about how you will cope with being a mother when you are still a child.” Her voice was gentle, but Evie felt herself tense at what she was saying. 

“The VK Exchange Program was barely voted in, Ben. People were weary of bringing children over from the Isle already. What do you think people will say when they find out one of the kids you brought over is a teenaged mother?” Adam asked. 

Evie felt her eyes fill with tears. She fucked up. There was no way they were going to help her bring her baby to Auradon. She heard Mal practically growl beside her. 

“That doesn’t matter.” Ben interrupted before anyone else could speak. He stood and started to pace around the room. “No one knows the first thing about what these four went through on the Isle. Even with the very little that I have been lucky enough to learn, I know that they went through hell. Now you’re going to tell Evie that she can’t have her child because you’re more worried about what other people are going to think? You have said it yourself a million times, Dad. The Isle of the Lost is dangerous and full of villains. That is exactly why we need to get Evie’s child to safety.”

“Do you honestly think we could just have someone go in and grab this one child and get out safely? There’s no way.” Adam objected. “I’m assuming the child is with her father. What will he say?” 

It took everything in Evie not to flinch at the statement. “She’s not with her father.” 

Adam raised an eyebrow. “Where is the father, or am I wrong to assume you know who it is?”

Evie felt Mal rise up to defend her, but someone else beat her to the punch.

“I’m right here.” Jay announced. 

Evie looked to him in surprise. That was definitely unexpected, but she could understand why he had said it; telling them all she had been forced into sleeping with men by her mother was probably not going to lead them in the right direction. She glanced at the others, trying to gage their reactions.

“So you both made the conscious decision to leave your child on the Isle, knowing it was dangerous, and didn’t think to inform us as soon as you arrived?” Adam clarified. 

“Why don’t we drop the high and mighty act?” 

Evie nearly groaned when she heard Mal join the conversation. She was already pissed off, so she knew that anything she said wouldn’t be helpful. 

“Excuse me?” Adam asked, his voice getting deeper. 

“Are you really going to sit here and blame a sixteen year old girl for the issues you caused? You can say whatever you want about Evie leaving her daughter behind, but you are the cause of all of this. Everything that happened to us was because of the island you created. You knew we existed and chose to let us rot for our parents’ mistakes. You don’t even have an inkling of an idea of what Evie has been through on the Isle, what any of us have been through. You don’t get to stand there and pass judgment when it’s all your fault.” 

“I have given countless resources and created programs to help the people that live there. I don’t understand how I am at fault for your girlfriend choosing to sleep with your friend.” Adam responded. The VKs scoffed, realizing the king was even more blind to the issues on the Isle than they thought. 

Evie knew that no matter what she said, there was no way Adam would agree to let her bring her baby over to Auradon. She would do whatever it took to save her child. 

“What if I bring her to Auradon and give her to a good family?” Evie asked, causing everyone to look at her. “No one ever has to know she’s mine. I just want her to be safe.” 

The room was silent for a moment as everyone thought over what she said. Finally, Adam spoke. 

“The only reason my guards were able to collect the four of you was because Maleficent allowed it. How will I know that my guards will be safe this time around if they are expected to pick up a child that has been kept a secret?” 

“We’ll go get her.” Mal answered. “We don’t need any guards. The four of us know the Isle better than anyone else. We can get in and get out.” 

Adam looked to Belle, then Ben, then Fairy Godmother. “What are your opinions?” 

“The child deserves to be kept safe.” Fairy Godmother said immediately. Her eyes met with Evie’s, and she felt a little unsettled at how concerned the older woman was. 

“I agree.” Belle stated. 

“That child should be with her mother.” Ben argued. 

“Then that settles it.” Adam stood. “The four of you will go collect the child and then she will be given to an Auradon family.” He exited the room. 

“I can start looking for a family.” Belle told Evie a moment later. “We’ll find somewhere safe where she will be loved and taken care of, alright?”

Evie just nodded, feeling completely empty inside. 

Ben came over. “Evie, I want to help. I’ll do what I can, okay?” 

“Okay.” She practically whispered. Ben and Belle left, leaving just the VKs, Fairy Godmother, and Dr. Bren. 

“How are you feeling, Evie?” Dr. Bren asked. 

“Can we be done?” she replied, not looking up from her lap. 

“Sweetheart, I am so sorry.” Fairy Godmother said as she came over. 

“What does it matter? She needs to be safe and now she will be. Now she’ll have a real family instead of a fucked up 16 year old dyke with an eating disorder.”

“Evie!” FG gasped. 

But she was already up and exiting the room. As soon as she was out the door, she took off running. She heard the others calling her name, but she ignored it. She ran as fast as could, feeling her lungs burning as she gasped for air. She just needed to get away from here. 

\-----

Jay and Carlos were sprawled out on the couch in the girls’ room, but Mal hadn’t stopped pacing. It had been two hours since Evie ran off and she hadn’t heard from her. She was worried that she might do something drastic. 

“I can’t believe this happened.” Mal practically whispered. 

“Honestly, I don’t think it’s a bad thing that Evie told.” Carlos said. 

“How is it not a bad thing?” Mal shouted. “They are taking her away!” 

“This whole time, we’ve been saying that we’ll find ways to fit in, we’ll get them to like us, we’ll show them we’re not a problem and then they’ll let us bring her here. But it’s pretty obvious now that that wasn’t going to happen. King Adam barely even listened, and I doubt things would be any different a month or two down the line.” 

“It doesn’t matter. We’re fucked. We’re in an even worse place than we started out in. At least on the Isle, Evie had her baby.” 

They heard the dorm room door open up and a second later, Evie came in. Her face was red, she was sweaty, and she looked disheveled, which was definitely unusual for her. 

Mal went over and smashed into her, pulling her into her arms. Evie instantly buried her face in her neck. 

“I’m sorry for running.” She whimpered. 

“Shhh, it’s okay. You needed some space to think, I get that.” Mal leaned back so she could see her face. “How do you feel?” 

“Like shit.” Evie deadpanned. 

“We’ll figure this out.”

“What is there to figure out, M? He’s the King of Auradon. If he says I have to give her away, then I don’t really have a lot of choices. This whole thing blew up in my face and I’m a fucking idiot for ever believing it would work.”

“The way I see it, we have two options.” Jay spoke up. “Option A- we go get the baby, bring her here, then give her to a family. Option B- we go back to the Isle and stay there.” 

Mal hated both of those choices. She didn’t want to admit it, but she loved being in Auradon. Even though they were hashing out all of Evie’s troubles and it was hard, she knew it was only temporary. They could truly be happy here. They were safe, well-fed, and had everything they needed. She had never wanted something as badly as she wanted to live in Auradon with Evie, the baby, and the boys. 

But if they went back to the Isle, Evie could keep her child. Mal had watched how hard she fought to bring that baby into the world and she knew that no matter what she thought, it was Evie’s choice. If she wanted to stay on the Isle, then Mal would die making sure she was able to stay there without having to worry about her mother or Quinton. 

Tears were pouring down Evie’s cheeks, her voice raspier than usual. “We have to bring her to Auradon. Even if she’s not with me, I need her to be safe. I want her to have a good life and to not have to be hidden away. She is so little that she won’t remember any of this anyway. She can be happy.” 

“Baby.” Mal whispered, pulling her back into a hug. She kissed her cheek. “I’m so sorry.” 

That’s when she started to sob. “I wish there was another option. I don’t want to give my baby away.” 

Mal pulled her down to the floor so she could sit on her lap. She held her tightly. “I know, baby girl.” She didn’t know what else to say. 

Evie just leaned into her and cried until they both finally fell asleep.


	27. Plans

_Uma hadn’t had any issues with Mal’s crew since the day they found Evie and brought her back to the ship. They saw one another occasionally at school and passed each other in the hallway without even a glance. This was much different than their usual verbal beatdowns and physical brawls. One thing that did surprise Uma was that she hadn’t seen Evie since._

_She was surprised when she went to her locker one day and found Carlos and Jay standing against it._

_“We need a meeting.” Jay said, always one to jump straight to the point._

_“When and where?”_

_“Somewhere private, maybe Curl Up ‘N Dye? Tonight at 7.”_

_“I’ll bring my boys.” Uma agreed. “Is Blue coming?”_

_Carlos shrugged. “Guess you’ll have to show up to find out.”_

_After school, Uma walked with Gil and Harry back to the ship. “We have a meet tonight with Mal’s crew.”_

_“Really?” Harry perked up instantly. She felt for her first mate. Though he would never admit it out loud, she knew he had been worried._

_“Yep. I don’t care what the situation is, we need to prepare for the worst. Make sure you’re ready to go tonight.”_

_The three pirates left their ship with enough time to get to the hair salon. Curl Up ‘N Dye was right on the edge of their territories, so it was usually where Mal’s crew and Uma’s crew did their business (when Lady Tremaine wasn’t around, of course)._

_When they walked in, they found the four teenagers already waiting. Mal was sitting in one of the salon chairs with Evie standing next to her. Carlos was in a chair a few feet to her right, and Jay was leaning up against a post closest to the door._

_Uma’s eyes scanned over Evie; after that night, she had honestly been concerned that she was dead. The only reason she knew she was alive was because if anything had happened to the Isle Princess, Mal would have been on a rampage. Uma had noticed that her rival had been laying low, and she was determined to figure out why tonight._

_“Hey Eves.” Harry greeted, approaching the girl slowly._

_“Hi Harry.” She gave him a small smile._

_“Can I give you a hug?” she nodded, and Harry went over and hugged her. Even Uma could see how tense Evie got, and Harry let go pretty quickly. “You look good.”_

_“Much better than last time we saw you.” Uma chimed in. She came over to stand closer to Harry, Gil following behind her. She couldn’t leave her first mate right next to the enemy without backup. Her eyes turned to Mal, seeing the purple haired girl looked far from her usual uninterested expression. “What’s this about, Mal?”_

_“I want to propose an alliance.”_

_Silence settled over the room. As long as Uma could remember, she had been fighting with Mal. Their mothers were enemies, making the two of them do their bidding and pitting them against each other. She couldn’t imagine a world where she wasn’t constantly looking over her shoulder and waiting for Mal to stab her in the back._

_It didn’t go unnoticed that as soon as Mal said the words, she reached out and grabbed Evie’s hand, pulling her closer. Uma wanted to say no. She guaranteed that if the roles were switched, Mal would say no without a second thought and that would be the end of the conversation. But as she stared at the blue haired girl, she knew she at least had to consider it._

_“I’m listening.”_

_“Something important came up, and we need to keep our territory protected. The last thing either of us wants is for Quinton to get in and take any extra territory.”_

_“Agreed.” Uma and Mal may not get along, but they had a common goal. They wanted the best for the Isle children. There were plenty of innocent kids who didn’t deserve to be hurt or used. If Uma didn’t have control of a territory, then Mal would be her second choice. If Quinton managed to take over more space, he would hurt all those children without any remorse. “But why can’t you protect it yourself?”_

_“Because there are more important things going on right now.”_

_Uma raised an eyebrow. “More important than your territory?” There were only three things that Mal valued more than her power, and they were standing right in front of her. Uma noticed the way Mal’s arm was locked around Evie’s waist. She noticed that Evie had dark bags under her eyes and still didn’t look completely healed up._

_“Yes.” Mal said simply._

_“Then why don’t I just take that territory from you? Why would you come to me and expose your weakness, knowing I could just attack and steal it all?”_

_“As much as we argue, I know you’re not that kind of person.” Mal said. She stood up, walking over to stand right in front of Uma. “I’m coming to you because I have no other choice. This is serious, and if anyone else finds out, we’re all dead.”_

_“I want to know what’s going on.” Uma decided. “We can form an alliance if you tell me why you need to.”_

_“It’s none of your business.” Mal snapped._

_Uma shrugged. “Then I guess you don’t need my help. Come on, boys.” She turned to leave._

_“Wait!” Evie called out. The pirates faced back towards her as she walked up to stand next to Mal. “It’s, um, it’s me.” She stuttered out nervously._

_“What about you?” Harry asked gently._

_“I’m pregnant.”_

_Uma’s eyes widened. No, there was absolutely no way. It had to be a trick. “Are you serious?”_

_Instantly, Carlos and Jay had moved up to stand next to the girls. Mal was holding Evie’s hand tightly, her body angled so that she was still slightly blocking her._

_“We work together to keep Quinton out of both of our territories.” Mal stated. “That’s the deal, take it or leave it.”_

_Uma took one look at Harry and knew instantly what his choice was. She glanced at Gil, seeing the determined look on his face. “Looks like we’ve got an alliance.”_

\-----

Despite the life-altering bombshell that Evie had dropped, things were going on as normal. They were still expected to go to classes, they still had to eat meals, and they were still going to their normal activities. 

It had been three days since Evie had announced that she had a daughter, and Mal had been on edge ever since. She felt so much more protective and defensive over her girl now that people knew her secret. It was obvious that Evie was struggling, and Mal was trying her best to help her, but what could she really say? She was devastated knowing that they would have to risk their lives to go get Evie’s daughter just to then pass her off to a new family.

When they walked into Goodness Class, they were surprised to see that Ben was there instead of Fairy Godmother. He smiled and Mal fought the urge to roll her eyes. How was he still so happy? She took her usual seat and stared up at the prince. 

“I asked Fairy Godmother to give us this time to come up with a plan for going back to the Isle of the Lost.” Ben came over and pulled out a chair, moving it to between the two tables the VKs occupied. “So what are you all thinking?” 

“Simple. Jay and I will go back to the Isle, get the baby, then come back here. End of discussion.” Mal stated. 

“No.” Evie immediately argued. “That’s ridiculous.”

Carlos nodded in agreement. “We’re coming too.” 

“Me too.” Ben agreed. 

“No.” the four VKs all refused in perfect unison. 

“If I’m going to be a good king, then I need to see my entire kingdom. I will never know how to help the people on the Isle if I don’t see it. You all can help show me it so I know what changes need to be made.” 

Mal shook her head. “This isn’t show and tell, Benny-boo. We’re not exactly popular on the Isle right now. This is going to be dangerous and I don’t have time to worry about unnecessary people. My only priority is getting Evie and the baby off the Isle.” 

Evie rolled her eyes. “You need to relax.” 

But Mal could see right through her. Evie had cried herself to sleep every night since she told FG and Dr. Bren, and she would get tense and shaky every time the Isle was brought up. 

“I know you don’t want to go back there.” Mal said, reaching out to stroke her cheek. “I can see on your face how scared you are. It’s not necessary for you to go. Jay and I can handle it.” 

“Yeah E, we’ve got it.” Jay insisted. 

“You shouldn’t have to go alone.” Evie argued. “It doesn’t matter what you say. Carlos and I are coming.” 

“I’m going too.” Ben added. 

“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into.” Carlos told the prince. 

“Please, M.” Evie said quietly. “I need to spend as much time with her as I can while she’s still mine.” 

That statement broke Mal’s heart, and she knew she couldn’t fight against Evie on that. “Okay, if you and Carlos are up to it, you can go.” She kissed her nose. “I don’t care what happens to anyone else as long as you and the baby are together and safe.” Mal told her. 

Jay snorted, ruining the moment as usual. “Wow, thanks for your concern, Mal.” 

“You and Carlos can handle yourselves.” Mal replied. “Ben, on the other hand? Not so much.”

“I know you don’t think I should go, and I respect your opinion, but I need to do this.” Ben said. 

“Whatever, just don’t get in the way.” Mal finally gave in. If he wanted to kill himself, then that was his choice. She was dead serious when she said that the only people she cared about were Evie and her daughter. 

“Can I ask a question?” Ben wondered. The four VKs looked at him expectantly. “Evie, what is your daughter’s name? I’ve never heard you guys say it.” 

Evie’s eyes took on the faraway look that was typical when she was speaking about her daughter. Mal squeezed her hand in support, wanting nothing more than to take all the pain away. Evie smiled, but it didn’t reach her eyes. “Her name is Gabriella.” 

Ben smiled. “That’s a beautiful name.” 

“Not like anyone ever uses it.” Jay joked. “We call her Ellie most of the time.” 

“Her name is similar to Evie’s.” Mal informed Ben. “Her whole first name is Genevieve and obviously we call her Evie, so we named the baby Gabriella and we call her Ellie.”

“Can you tell me about her?” 

“She’s absolutely perfect.” Evie practically whispered. Mal grabbed her arm, pulling her out of her chair and over onto her lap. She wrapped her arms around Evie’s waist and rested her chin on her shoulder. 

“She’s like a mini-Evie.” Carlos said. “Same eyes, nose, lips, she even has the dimple in her chin.” 

“Ellie’s the best baby.” Jay joined in. “Her laugh is the cutest thing in the world.” 

Mal couldn’t resist joining in. “She doesn’t cry very much. When she smiles, her nose scrunches up, just like someone else I know.” She reached out and tapped Evie’s nose, making the exact smile she was talking about show up on her face. 

“I can’t wait to meet her.” Ben told them. “She sounds amazing.” 

Evie nodded. “She is. That’s why I had to do all this, Ben. I had to lie so I could keep her safe.”

“I understand. You are her mom, Evie. You did what was best for her.” 

Mal leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to Evie’s neck. “I agree.” She tightened her arms around her, feeling Evie lean more into her touch. She could feel that her breathing was getting faster. “Nice slow breaths, baby. You’re okay.”

“Let’s talk supplies.” Jay said, drawing attention away from how much Evie was struggling. Mal was grateful, and even happier when it only took Evie a second to calm down. 

“We’ll need food and medical supplies.” Carlos began. Ben pulled out a piece of paper and started to make a list. 

“We’re going to have to find appropriate outfits.” Evie chimed in. She looked over at Ben in his perfectly ironed suit and raised an eyebrow. “I’ll make something for you.”

“Where is Ellie right now?” Ben asked. 

Mal felt weird hearing the future king of Auradon say Evie’s daughter’s name. She knew Ben was trying to help, so she didn’t comment on it. 

“She’s with my brother.” Evie responded. 

“So you do have a real brother.” Ben commented, obviously referring to the video chat where Quinton had lied and said he was Evie’s brother. “Is that why you were so nervous when you thought he was calling? You thought something happened to your daughter?” 

“Yes.” Mal said. She decided to quickly change the subject before Ben could even think to ask any more questions about Q. She grabbed out a piece of paper and a pencil and drew a quick sketch of the Isle. “Here is where the bridge is, and here is where we have to go.” It was a pretty long walk, and it would definitely be dangerous. 

“Why didn’t Ellie stay with her father?” Ben asked, turning to look at Evie. 

“Were you not listening?” Jay questioned. “I’m her father.” 

Mal didn’t believe for a second that Ben actually bought that. Maybe Adam and Belle did, but Ben wasn’t stupid, and she guaranteed that Fairy Godmother and Dr. Bren had been able to piece together enough about Evie’s past to know that it probably wasn’t her choice to conceive a child. 

She watched as the blonde boy just nodded. “Right, sorry. It’s just weird to believe that Evie could ever be with someone other than Mal, especially one of their mutual best friends.” 

Jay shrugged. “It was a short lived thing.” 

Mal couldn’t help but smile at the way Evie just leaned further into her. She looked up at her with a grimace that made her laugh out loud.

Carlos smiled. “That bad, E?” 

Evie just shook her head. “My lips are sealed.” 

\-----

As soon as all of their commitments for the day were taken care of and they had eaten dinner, Evie and Mal went back to their dorm room. The boys had been staying with them for the past few days and they had gone to their room to grab some clothes for school tomorrow.

“Wanna take a bath?” Evie asked, squeezing Mal’s hand to catch her attention. She could see that her girlfriend’s eyes were unfocused and it was obvious that her mind was somewhere else. Mal did such a good job at taking care of her, so she intended on returning the favor. 

“Mmhmm.” Mal leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss against her cheek. 

“Come on.” Evie led the way to the bathroom. She turned the knob for the water, then stuck her hand underneath it to test the temperature. Once it was warm enough, she plugged the drain and let the water fill the tub. 

Mal was leaning up against the sink and she smiled when they made eye contact. “You’re beautiful, you know that?” she said softly. 

Evie felt her cheeks flush. “So are you.” She went over to her and grabbed the bottom of Mal’s shirt, then tugged it over her head. Evie kissed her forehead, smiling when she let out a content sigh. She unhooked Mal’s bra, then pulled down her pants and underwear all at once. 

“Your turn.” Mal repeated the same process until they were both naked. “Facing each other, or you in my arms?” she asked as she stepped over the side of the tub and sat down in the borderline hot water. 

“Facing.” Evie insisted. Though she loved being in Mal’s arms, she wanted to talk and find out what was going on with her. She got in and sat down so she was across from her, thinking her millionth silent thank you to whoever invented the giant tubs in the Auradon dorm rooms. “What’s going on in that pretty little head of yours?” 

Mal rolled her eyes, causing Evie to giggle; that was a phrase that Mal said to her constantly. “Stupid.” 

“I’m serious though.” Evie tucked a loose piece of hair behind Mal’s ear. “You’re always talking about how well you know me. You know I know you just as well, right?” 

“You’ve got enough on your plate, baby. You don’t need me to add even more.” 

“You shouldn’t have to keep it all in to protect my feelings. I’m a big girl, M. I can handle it.” Evie cupped her cheeks gently and leaned in to press a kiss against her lips. “Talk to me.” 

When she pulled away, she could see Mal’s control waning. Her bottom lip was wobbling and her eyes were darting around the room, trying to find any excuse not to talk. As much as Mal preached about Evie expressing her feelings, she wasn’t very good at following her own advice. 

Evie decided to help her out because she was pretty sure she knew what the problem was. “You have been very quiet ever since I told them about Ellie. I’m surprised you haven’t been arguing with me more about letting them take her away.” 

Mal let out a shaky breath and Evie knew she hit the nail right on the head. “It’s not my choice.” 

The blue haired girl instantly frowned. “Like hell it’s not your choice. You may not have given birth to her, but she’s basically your daughter too. When we were on the Isle, it was _you_ rocking her to sleep at night. It was _you_ who would take her when I was so exhausted I could barely keep my eyes open. It was _you_ who sat with me and brought me ice packs when I was sore from breastfeeding. It was _you_ who made Ellie laugh for the first time.” 

Mal looked straight down, refusing to acknowledge what she had just said. Evie put her hand under her chin and tilted her face up carefully. 

“You’re allowed to talk about her too, babe. I know you’re feeling just as shitty about this situation as I am.” 

She shook her head. “I don’t want to put more stress on you.” 

“You don’t stress me out by talking about your feelings. I will be more upset if you just sit here quietly and pretend like nothing is happening. I need you to know that it will never be okay with me that you push your own feelings down so that you don’t hurt me. I always want to hear how you feel, M.” she held both of her hands. “Please talk to me.” 

Suddenly, a sob escaped from Mal’s lips. It honestly caught Evie off guard. Instantly, Mal’s breathing quickened as she finally allowed herself to feel. “I’m sorry.” Evie just kissed her cheek and smoothed her hair down, hoping it would encourage her to speak. “I just…I wanted us to be a family.” 

Evie nodded. “Me too. More than anything.” 

“None of this is fair!” Mal sobbed. “We have fought so fucking hard for this. We left behind our six month old baby to come to Auradon to try and make a better life for her. I would have never, ever imagined it would have ended with us having to give her away. _We_ are her family. You, me, Carlos, and Jay. She should be with us!” 

Evie pulled Mal into her chest, hugging her tightly the way that Mal always did for her when she was upset. She stroked her back in circles. 

“I just want to know when it’s been enough. When is the world going to stop constantly shitting on us? Ellie was supposed to be our fresh start. She was our chance to finally put some good in the world. We were going to raise her to be intelligent and confident and to help her understand she is beautiful and has her own voice. How the fuck do they expect us to just walk over that bridge and pass her off to whatever random asshole they pick? Besides that, why couldn’t they let you be involved in picking the family? They don’t even know Ellie, so how could they possibly know what she needs? It’s just such bullshit!” she shouted through her tears.

“I know.” Evie said soothingly. 

“But do you know the worst part? My heart is fucking _shattered_ for you. You had this pregnancy suddenly forced on you out of nowhere and though it was a horrible situation, some good came out of it with Ellie. You were so sick, so sore, so exhausted and you had to hide for a year and half. You have been through so much, and then you had to push a child out of your body at fifteen years old. When that little girl came into this world, something changed with you, Evie. You felt so broken, and when she was born, it was like most of you healed. You have made so much progress since we came to Auradon. What the fuck is this going to do to you now? How are you going to be after you give away your daughter?” 

Evie felt her throat tighten at Mal’s words. She had been thinking all of these things for the past three days, and it hurt her heart to know that Mal had been suffering through the same thoughts in silence. 

“I’m going to be a mess again.” Evie whispered. 

Mal looked up at her with so much sadness. “I don’t know how I’m going to put you back together if I’m broken too.”

Evie hugged her tighter and let their foreheads press together. “We’ll have to figure it out together. One step at a time.” 

“I don’t want to give her away.” 

There it was. Evie had been waiting for that since the moment the decision was made. Mal had been very uncharacteristically silent on the matter and Evie had been waiting for her to confess.

“Me either.” Evie agreed. “But I don’t think we really have a choice unless we stay on the Isle. Now with Ben coming, I don’t know if that’s even an option.” 

“We can get rid of him easily.” Mal said. “If you really wanted to stay, we could find a way.” 

“I’m scared.” Evie whispered. “My…my mother…” 

“She’s dead.” Mal interrupted. “No matter what I have to do, your mother and Quinton are going to be dead. Even if I have to die trying.” 

“No.” Evie objected. “See, that’s the issue. I know that it’s going to come down to us having to get rid of them because there are literally no other options. But I can’t lose you, M. Having Ellie doesn’t matter if I don’t have you.” She stroked her cheek. “I need you.” 

“We’ll figure it out.” Mal dismissed, but Evie knew the truth. If they went back to the Isle, Mal would instantly get herself into trouble by trying to kill Evie’s two biggest tormentors. Evie didn’t want to give away Ellie, but she couldn’t lose Mal either. “I’m sure Uma will give back my territory. Or maybe I don’t even want it back. Maybe I want to get away from all the villain bullshit and we’ll just live in some quiet little cottage on the edge of the Isle away from all the drama. You, me, and Ellie. The boys can have one next door.” 

Evie smiled sadly. “As nice as that sounds, I think we both know that’s impossible. If you wanted to escape from all that, we would have to kill your mother too.” 

“We’re sixteen.” Mal stated. “None of this is fucking fair.” 

“We have to get Ellie off the Isle before she falls into the same cycle as us. Keeping her away from our parents and anyone else who would want to hurt her is more important than her being with us.” Evie practically whispered. “I hate it, but it’s true.” 

“I just want us to be happy.” Mal said. She leaned back, pulling Evie with her so that she was on her lap. “I want us to get a nice little castle, just like you have always wanted. You’re a fashion designer and I’m an artist. We have our beautiful, perfect Ellie and we raise her together- she calls you Mama and me Mommy. We give her a little sibling that we plan when it’s a good time for us. The boys come and visit at least three times a week, most of the kids from the Isle are in Auradon, and everyone is safe. Is that so much to ask for?” 

Evie’s eyes filled with tears. She and Mal had obviously talked about their future before, but a few details stuck out more than others. “You want Ellie to call you Mommy?” 

Mal rarely blushed, but her cheeks turned bright red. “I, um, I’ve thought about it.” 

“She would be so lucky to call you Mommy.” Evie kissed her. “Thank you for helping me with my baby, M. The six months we were a family were the best months of my life. You stepped up and helped take care of a baby that you had no obligation to, and I will always appreciate that.” 

“Of course I had an obligation to her. Evie, I seriously don’t think you understand how much you mean to me. You are the only reason I am alive. There is nothing in this world I wouldn’t do for you. I love you so fucking much.” 

“I love you so fucking much too.” Evie replied with a smile. “You really would want to have another baby with me?” 

“I would have a hundred babies with you if that’s what you wanted.” Mal gave her a kiss, letting their lips linger for a few seconds. “When we’re older, I would love for us to plan a child together. I want you to be able to enjoy being pregnant.” 

Evie raised an eyebrow. “Who said I’m the one having the baby?” 

Mal rolled her eyes. “Shut up, you know you would want to.” 

The taller girl smiled. “Yeah, I would.” 

“You deserve to have a nice, happy pregnancy, an easy labor with someone who actually knows what they’re doing, and to get to raise a baby without any fear.” 

Evie rested her head on her shoulder. “That sounds amazing.” 

Mal kissed her forehead. “One day, we’ll make it happen.”


	28. Homecoming

_Evie had never been as scared as the moment she found out she was pregnant. It was true that fear had been the dominant emotion for most of her life; she was no stranger to being afraid. But this was the first time she had ever been scared for another person._

_Of course Evie loved and cared about her friends, but she never had to be scared for them. Mal, Jay, and even Carlos could handle themselves and they could always bounce back from anything that happened. But this…this baby wouldn’t have that same ability._

_She would be a liar if she said she didn’t consider finding a way to get rid of the child. That had been her immediate thought and she was sure she could find the right mix of chemicals to drain the clump of cells out of her body. But then, she started to think more and more about it. What would make her any different from her mother if she hurt the child that was growing inside of her?_

_Evie was downright terrified during the pregnancy. Every morning she woke up wondering if she was still safe, and every night she went to sleep praying that no one would find their hideout. She was trapped and had to rely completely on the others, and luckily she trusted them to keep her safe._

_But when that baby was born, Evie felt some of the fear melt away. It was as if part of her heart was healed. Little pieces of her that she thought were gone forever suddenly fused back together. Over the past six months, that little girl reached to parts of her heart that even Mal couldn’t touch._

_Evie had never felt so whole._

_But loving little Gabriella had a price, and she had to pay it in order to keep her baby safe. When the letters from Auradon arrived and Maleficent informed Mal that they had no choice but to go, Evie knew she had to act quickly. Other than Mal and the boys, there were only two people she could trust with her daughter. Arrangements were made and the night before they left for Auradon, it was time to act._

_Evie had spent the whole day cuddling with her sweet Ellie. She carried the six month old around the hideout- bouncing her, singing to her, feeding her, and trying to give off enough love that Ellie would be able to soak it up and hold onto it while she was gone. Every time she looked into Ellie’s light brown eyes, or every time she ran her fingers through hair so black that it had a blue tint, she felt her healed heart being chipped away again._

_“It’s time, E.” Mal said softly. She had been by Evie’s side, trying to help her in any way she could and taking over when she got too upset._

_They had decided that Jay would be the one to take Ellie to Evie’s brother. It would be too long of a trip for Carlos to do on his own, Evie couldn’t leave, and Mal would have to be there to take care of her heartbroken girlfriend. Jay was the best decision._

_“Can I say goodbye?” Carlos questioned. Evie nodded and walked over to him, transferring the baby carefully into his arms. “Hey Ellie, we’re going to miss you so much, you know that? But we will do our best to make sure things are safe so you can come be with us. We won’t forget about you.” He kissed her cheek. “I promise I’ll take care of your mama for you. I love you, little princess.” He held her close to his chest, her tiny little fist coming up and touching his cheek._

_Evie felt her heart clench. She was so lucky to have found this family for her daughter. Ellie deserved to have the best of everything, and the four adults in her life were definitely the best family she could have ever asked for._

_Mal was the one to stand and go pick her up. Evie felt her eyes instantly fill with tears when Mal picked up her daughter and cuddled her close to her chest. She pressed her lips against Ellie’s forehead and let her eyes shut, just standing there and rocking her for a few moments in silence._

_“I’m sorry, Ellie girl.” Mal whispered. “I’m sorry we have to leave you behind.” Ellie made a tiny noise and held onto a piece of Mal’s hair. “God, you look so much like your mama. You’re strong like her too. I know that you will be okay while we’re gone. We’re making a safer life for you and as soon as we’re able to, we’re bringing you to Auradon. I promise I will fight every single day to bring you with us. I love you.”_

_Mal came over and sat next to Evie on the couch. The blue haired girl looked at the two people she loved most in the world, noticing the lone tear that slid down Mal’s cheek. Evie leaned in and kissed it away, then pressed a gentle kiss to Mal’s lips._

_“Here, baby.” Mal held Ellie out and Evie reached out to take her._

_“I don’t know what to say you to you, my little love. You are so innocent and I know you won’t remember this time, but my heart is still broken. I hope you never question how much I love you because I’m doing this all for you. You will never have the life that I did, and you will never know the pain or unbearableness of growing up on the Isle.” She stroked a hand through her hair, hoping to soothe her baby to sleep. “My perfect baby girl.” She stroked her cheek, traced over her tiny lips, gently touched her angelic eyelashes._

_Ellie let out a content sigh as her eyes fluttered shut. Evie leaned down and kissed her forehead, the tip of her nose, her cheeks, her dimpled chin, and finally her little lips._

_“I swear that I will come back to you. No matter what I have to do, we will always be together, Gabriella.” She held her close to her chest._

_Ellie nuzzled closer to her neck. Evie felt Mal’s hand come up to rest on her back and she leaned into her girlfriend, letting her wrap both of them in her arms. It only took a few minutes before Ellie fell asleep._

_“It’s only temporary, Princess.” Mal whispered before kissing her temple. “We’ll see her soon.”_

_Evie didn’t want to hand her baby to someone else. She didn’t want Jay to have to sneak into the night, dodging enemies to pass her daughter off to her brother. She didn’t want an entire ocean and magical bridge separating her from her child._

_“Mal.” She whimpered._

_“I know, baby. I’m so sorry.” Mal hugged her tighter, being careful not to squish the six month old._

_Evie knew it couldn’t be avoided any longer. She slowly rose to her feet, cradling her daughter against her chest. She closed her eyes and tried to memorize the feeling of her weight in her arms, the feeling of her tiny breaths against her skin._

_The four of them walked down the stairs and to the door of the hideout together. Once they were there, Mal helped Jay put on the black sling Evie had made for him to carry the baby._

_“Here’s the bag.” Carlos passed it to Jay. Mal had already dropped off a few things, but this bag had Ellie’s favorite toys and all of the breastmilk Evie had been able to pump and store. That was the part that scared her the most; how would her baby, who had been surviving off the nutrients in her body, manage to eat without her?_

_Mal, Jay, and Carlos looked towards her. Evie’s arms shook as Carlos leaned down and kissed the top of Ellie’s head. She started to feel nauseous when Mal pressed a kiss to Ellie’s cheek. She felt ready to explode when she kissed her daughter’s forehead one last time and then carefully put her into the sling._

_“I love you, Ellie.” She whispered, running her index finger over her tiny hand. “I love you, I love you, I love you.”_

_“Go, Jay.” Mal ordered. He turned around and disappeared off into the night, taking one of the biggest chunks of Evie’s heart with him._

_Evie’s knees finally got too weak to hold her body up and she sank to the floor. She brought her knees up to her chest and rested her forehead against them._

_“E…”_

_“My baby.” She said before bursting into tears. Evie had never felt as much pain as she did in that moment. What her mother did, what those men did, what Quinton did…none of it compared to the aching, empty feeling in her chest right now._

_“We’ll be back soon, Eves.” Carlos told her._

_Evie just shook her head and continued to cry. She felt like she was drowning. How could it hurt this much? She had only known that little life for six months, and carried it for nine months before that. How could she have made such an impression on her?_

_Is this what a mother’s love felt like? Why didn’t her mother ever feel like this towards her?_

_That thought crept into her mind without warning and it made her cry even harder. Evie could feel Mal’s hand on her back and her lips pressing kisses against her face, but it didn’t help. She was inconsolable._

_She didn’t know how long she sat there and sobbed her heart out. Mal and Carlos’s soft words and gentle touches didn’t make a difference. Her heart was broken._

_Eventually, they heard a rock hit the sign. Jay came into the hideout, his eyes slightly red and breathing hard after the long journey to the opposite side of the Isle. Evie looked up and he kneeled in front of her._

_“It’s done, Princess.” He said. “She’s safe. I didn’t see anyone there, I made sure I wasn’t being followed, and Uma had people posted throughout her entire territory to double check that no one was following my trail.”_

_Evie nodded. “Thank you.” Her voice was hoarse from crying._

_“We better get to bed.” Carlos told the others. “We have to get up early tomorrow.”_

_Evie leaned her head on Mal’s shoulder, finally accepting some of her comfort. She didn’t even have time to protest before Mal was scooping her up in her arms and carrying her upstairs. She took her straight to their room and laid her on the bed._

_“I love you.” Mal whispered into the darkness._

_“I love you too.” Evie reached up to cup her cheek. “Tell me things will be okay. Promise me she’ll be safe.”_

_“Everything will be okay, and I swear to you that she’s safe.” Mal gave her a kiss. “We’ll get her back, E. I promise you that we’ll get her back.”_

\-----  
Mal would never admit it out loud, but her heart was hammering in her chest as they walked to their designated meeting point. There was a royal limo waiting and Ben was leaning against the side of it. She scanned his outfit in amusement; Evie had him dressed head to toe in blue leather with a hat on his head. 

Mal huffed out a laugh. “Never thought I’d see that.” 

Evie, who was standing beside her, cracked a small smile. “Trust me, it was difficult to find something that worked for him. He’s going to stick out like a sore thumb.” 

“You did good, Eves.” Carlos praised. “He’ll be fine.” 

“Yeah, if he keeps his mouth shut.” Jay joked. 

The four of them stopped across from Ben. They were all dressed in their usual Isle attire. They had weapons sewn into the fabric and knives hidden on their bodies. Physically, they were prepared. Mentally, it would be a miracle if they got back to Auradon without a major breakdown. 

“It’s weird seeing you guys dressed like that.” Ben commented. 

“Feeling’s mutual.” Jay agreed. “Last chance to back out.” 

Ben shook his head, his stupid smile still plastered on his face. “Let’s go.” He opened the limo door and stepped aside. “Ladies first.” 

“Quit with the manners, and wipe the smile off your face while you’re at it.” Evie said as she walked past him to get in the car. Mal couldn’t help but smirk; clearly Isle Evie was coming out tonight.

Once they were all piled into the backseat, Ben leaned forward and told the limo driver to get moving. Mal took a look at each of her friends. 

Evie was practically buzzing with energy. She hadn’t slept at all the night before, and she was barely sleeping the past few nights before that, so Mal didn’t understand how she was still functioning. Her posture was perfect, her legs were crossed, and her hands were folded in her lap; already reverting back to her Isle habits wasn’t a great sign. 

Carlos was bouncing his leg and staring out the window. His hands kept rubbing up and down his thighs, as if he was trying to wipe off sweat. Normally, he would have been all over the candy that was fully stocked on the shelves, but he didn’t even glance in that direction. 

Jay was leaned back against the seat, arms spread on top of the backrest. He was the picture of confidence and relaxation, but Mal could tell it was all a front. She was glad they had been working out during Tourney because if anything happened, she was depending on Jay to get them out of the situation with his strength. 

Ben was sitting quietly, his eyes scanning over them. Mal could admit that he was pretty good at reading people, and she knew he was trying to base his behavior off of how they were acting. She imagined it was difficult since they were all giving off such different vibes. 

“So, can I ask a question?” Ben said, interrupting the silence.

“Doesn’t mean you’re going to get an answer.” Carlos mumbled. 

“What was the plan all along? Why did you really come to Auradon?” 

Mal felt three pairs of eyes on her. She knew they were probably still unsure on how much to say to Ben. At this point, they were already bringing him to the place all their nightmares had been created and letting him meet Ellie, so she didn’t think there was a reason to lie. 

“As soon as Maleficent told us we were being asked to go to Auradon, she said there was no option and we had to go. We weren’t happy about it and we thought about refusing, but after thinking it through, we decided this would be our best chance to create a safer life for Ellie.” Mal answered. She reached over, letting her fingers brush against Evie’s. Her girlfriend instantly grasped her hand. “We made a plan to do everything we could to fit in. We would say anything, so anything, be anything so that you would trust us. We would go to school, make friends, not cause any major issues, and get the people of Auradon on our side. Then, we would find a way to bring Gabriella over.” 

“All we wanted was for people to trust us, or at least to see that we’re not evil.” Evie chimed in. “We just want to give Ellie and the other Isle kids a better chance at life.” 

“I still don’t understand why you didn’t just say something about having a baby.” Ben said, his eyes locked on Evie’s. 

Evie shook her head. “If people on the Isle were disgusted by a 16 year old with a baby, can you even imagine how people in Auradon would have acted?” 

“I would have helped you bring her over.” Ben stated. 

“We wouldn’t have even let you near us.” Jay replied. “If you think Mal is protective now, just imagine Mal being extra overprotective over Mama Bear Evie. We had to ease into things, and we had to make sure it was safe to bring her here before we did it.” 

“We needed to trust you just as much as we needed you to trust us.” Mal summarized. 

Ben tilted his head slightly. “What do you think now? Do you trust me?” 

Mal hadn’t given much thought to that, but she supposed they did. The prince of Auradon had a way of planting himself in their business, and while his opinions weren’t always welcomed, he had never done anything to betray them. 

“I guess we do.” 

Ben nodded. “I promise you I will do my best to honor that trust.” 

Before anyone else could speak, they noticed the magical bridge was opening up. In minutes, they would be back on the Isle. They would be back to the one place Mal swore she would never let Evie go again. What was even worse was that now they had Ben to protect too, and even after all this work, they wouldn’t get to bring Ellie home with them. 

They exited the limo in silence. The limo driver would be waiting inside, but they pulled tarps overtop of it to hide it from view. Mal was hopeful that no one would be over this way anyway; these docks were pretty much unused.

As she turned to look at her home, Mal was surprised by how normal this seemed. They had been in Auradon for a total of two and a half months now, which really wasn’t that long, but she wasn’t expecting to come back here and feel like no time had passed. She breathed in the salty air and then started to walk, hearing the footsteps of the others behind her. 

Evie sped up to walk by her side, as usual. Mal glanced over her shoulder and saw that Ben and Carlos were in the middle, and Jay was bringing up the rear, his eyes scanning through the darkness. 

Mal could hear Evie’s breath catch in her throat. She tried not to look at her. She needed to get back into Isle mode, and that meant trusting that Evie could take care of herself. She did start to get concerned when she never heard Evie exhale. 

She turned towards her and could see that Evie’s face was starting to get red. Mal couldn’t believe that they had only been here for a total of five minutes and already there was an issue. 

She stopped walking and reached out, grabbing Evie’s chin. “Hey, listen to me. You can’t do this right now, baby. I know this is hard, but you’re okay.” 

“M…” she whimpered through a shaky breath. 

“What’s wrong?” Ben questioned.

“Let’s go make sure no one is coming.” Jay said, looping an arm around Ben’s shoulder and dragging him away with Carlos following. Mal knew she owed Jay for that distraction. 

“Evie, take a breath. You have to relax. Come on, let it out.” She wanted to reach out and touch her, but she could see the razors sewn into leather covering her ribs and thought better of it. Mal grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her forward until their foreheads touched. “Breathe, baby.” 

Evie finally took a full breath, exhaling shakily. “I’m sorry.” She whispered. 

“You’re scared, I get it. Why do you think I didn’t want you back here?”

“I had to come.” 

“I know.” Mal kissed her cheek. “Let’s go find the boys before Ben gets himself in trouble. Keep breathing, okay? You’re alright.” 

Mal grabbed her hand and pulled her in the directions the boys had gone. She saw a shadow around the corner and expected to see one of them. She felt every hair on the back of her neck stand up when instead, she saw a different face. 

“Well, well, what do we have here? The Princess of the Isle and the Mini Mistress of Evil. Who knew I would get so lucky?” 

“Back the fuck up, Tristan.” 

Mal didn’t know Tristan very well, but she definitely knew of him. He was the son of a lower level villain and one of the guys from Quinton’s crew. While he was skinny, he towered over them both in height. He was not someone that they could sidestep easily, and they couldn’t let word get back to Quinton or any of their parents that they were on the Isle. 

“Q is going to be so happy to see you, Princess.” He addressed Evie, turning towards her as if Mal wasn’t even there. It made her blood boil. “He’s heard about your little secret.” 

“Yeah, hate to break it to you, but Q won’t be seeing me.” Evie snapped. 

“Really? You should know better than anyone that he always gets what he wants.” 

“So do I, and he will not be coming near her.” Mal interrupted, taking a step towards Tristan. 

He didn’t even move. “Do your mothers know you’re here? Something tells me they would be very disappointed if they knew their bastards weren’t following through.” 

Evie glanced at her nails in disinterest. “Tell me, Tristan. What secret could Quinton possibly know?” Mal silently praised her in her head; looking at her now, she never would have imagined that Evie was having a panic attack two minutes ago. 

“That your mothers gave you the task of breaking us all out of this hell. He’s very upset he wasn’t invited to the party though. He thinks he would do a better job at stealing Fairy Godmother’s wand than any of you. It’s pretty obvious none of you have what it takes.” 

Mal thanked every God in existence. So Quinton thought Evie’s secret was that they went to Auradon to get Fairy Godmother’s wand? While not ideal, it was much, much better than the alternative. 

“This chat has been fun, but it’s time for us to go now. Q has been going on and on about how he couldn’t wait to see you again.” Tristan said, his attention back on Evie. “Are you going to make this easy?” 

Evie laughed. “Now where would the fun be in that?” 

Tristan’s reflexes were quick. He reached out, wrapping his arm around Evie’s upper arm with his left hand and pulling out a dagger with his right.

Mal sighed. “I really wish you wouldn’t have done that.” He held the dagger towards her, but Evie was quicker. She stomped down hard on his foot, then kicked at his knees. 

Tristan yelped in pain. “You bitch!” he turned to her with the dagger raised. 

“It seems you’ve forgotten my biggest rule in my absence.” Mal came up behind him while he was distracted and pressed her knife against his neck. “No one gets near Evie without my permission. No one even _looks_ at or _thinks_ about her without clearing it with me first. And absolutely _no one_ puts a hand on her without consequence.” She slid her knife against his throat. 

Tristan fell to the ground, his hands flying to his throat as he started to choke on his blood. He dropped the dagger and Mal picked it up, stabbing it into his chest to put him out of his misery. 

“Fuck.” Evie whispered, running a shaky hand through her hair. 

Mal was so ready to get off the Isle. “Come on, we have to find the boys.” 

“Ben can’t know.” Evie told her.

Mal wondered what would happen if Ben found out she just killed someone. Obviously, she had to get rid of Tristan somehow; the minute he saw them, he had signed his death certificate and putting his hands on Evie had just sealed the deal. They couldn’t risk the wrong person finding out about them. If Ben knew, would he leave her here? 

“I can’t lose you too.” Evie said frantically as they walked quickly toward their original destination. 

“You won’t.” Mal swore. 

As soon as they saw Jay, Carlos, and Ben, Mal felt relief rush over her. They were all safe for now, they just had to get moving. 

“You good, E?” Carlos asked, obviously noticing that something had changed. 

“Mmhmm. Come on, we have to hurry.” She started to walk. Carlos looped his arm through hers, and Ben followed behind them. 

“There’s blood on your arm.” Jay observed. 

Mal glanced down. “Shit.” She wiped it on her pants. 

“Something happened.” 

She spoke quietly, trying not to let anyone else hear the conversation. “Remember Tristan, one of Q’s guys?” Jay nodded. “He just came up to us. Good news- the secret Q knows is our parents’ plan with the wand. Bad news- he put his hands on Evie and I sliced his throat.” 

“Well fuck.” Jay said. “Oh well, better to tie up the loose ends anyway. If Q finds out Evie is here, we’re dead.” 

“Still didn’t make it any easier.” 

Jay squeezed her shoulder sympathetically. “We’ll hash that out once we’re back in Auradon. Right now, we need to focus.” 

Mal knew he was right. She picked up her pace to get back to the front of the group; she trusted Evie to lead them, but she felt better if she was by her side in case of any danger. She tried to push any negative thoughts out of her mind. All that mattered was getting to Ellie as quickly as possible.

\-----

The Isle of the Lost was different than Ben expected. From the moment they stepped out of the limo, he had been surprised. The air was salty, but there was no beach to go along with the ocean. Everything was dark and gray and broken down. There were no people, which wasn’t entirely unusual since it was nighttime, but he was expecting to see people loitering around. 

He could tell that the VKs were different. They were tense and guarded and restless. Despite this, they were still so in tune with each other. They moved as a unit, quickly falling into a formation that Ben had seen them use even in Auradon- Mal leading, Evie and Carlos in the middle, and Jay watching their backs. 

Ben was surprised to see Mal grab Evie’s face. He had never seen her be so rough with the blue haired girl before, but the boys didn’t really react. As soon as he asked what was wrong, Jay dragged him away. 

The girls were gone for ten, fifteen minutes before they rejoined them. Ben could see that Evie was even more tense and Mal looked angry. He knew better than to ask what happened, so he just fell into step behind Evie and Carlos. 

He could see the four teenagers’ heads were constantly on a swivel. They looked from left to right and back again constantly, scanning the area for danger. Ben had seen a couple people sleeping in a side alley and a few small children ran past, but other than that, the streets were relatively empty. He could see spray paint everywhere and recognized some of the work as doodles he had seen on Mal’s notebook- dragons, crowns, snakes, and bones. 

“Where is everyone?” he asked Carlos. 

“We’re avoiding places we know people would be.” The curly haired boy responded, though he never stopped checking his surroundings.

“I guess that makes sense.” 

Ben looked forward towards where the girls were walking. It was rare to see Evie and Mal without some part of them touching, so he was surprised to see some distance between the two of them. Maybe touch wasn’t as common on the Isle? 

He could see lights in the distance and as they got closer, he realized they were approaching a shop. He read the sign in front- Curl Up ‘N Dye. 

“I wish we could check on her.” Evie said, breaking the silence for the first time in a while. 

“She’s strong.” Mal replied. They passed the shop without another word. 

“Keep your eyes open.” Jay reminded the group. 

Ben stopped seeing the pictures Mal usually drew, replaced instead by octopuses. He wondered if this meant they were in a new territory. 

As they got further into the Isle, the air started to change. It was more humid, and then he could smell the salty ocean again. This time, it was mixed with the smell of fish. 

He was shocked when they came to another set of docks. There was a place called The Slop Shop that looked like some sort of restaurant, and beside it was a large ship. Compared to the other things he had seen on the Isle, the ship looked well taken care of. 

Mal stopped walking, causing the others to stop too. “Ben, you keep your mouth shut and follow our lead, okay?” 

“Just blend in.” Evie added. 

“Okay.” Ben agreed. 

They started moving again and he could hear voices. He realized there were people on the ship and as they got closer, they all started to yell. Ben’s eyes widened when he saw the pirate hats and the swords they were holding. 

Ben wasn’t expecting to see Evie step in front of Mal. The purple haired girl was the obvious leader of the group, but right now, Evie was the one in front. 

“It’s the princess!” he heard one of the pirates shout. Greetings were now being called out towards them. 

He had always wondered about Evie’s status on the Isle. She had announced as soon as she arrived in Auradon that she was a princess because of her mother (which Audrey had quickly shot down). He had heard Mal, Jay, and Carlos all refer to her as ‘Princess’, and Evie often wore a tiara on her head. 

“Stay close, let’s keep moving.” Evie said quietly. They got to the ramp that would lead up to the boat. “Where’s Uma?” she asked the pirate crew. 

“Hook’s house.” One of them called back. 

“Do you need an escort?” another shouted. 

“We should be okay. Thank you.” Evie smiled, then led them away from the boat. 

“Who is Uma?” Ben questioned. He thought he had heard that name somewhere before- maybe on the Isle records? 

“Daughter of Ursula.” 

“She’s a friend of yours?”

“An ally.” Mal corrected. “Remember when we told you we couldn’t just take our top choice off the Isle without there being fallout?” Ben nodded. “That’s Uma.” 

They approached a small house that had the ocean behind it and woods on the other sides. Ben felt uneasy at how dark it was and knowing that there could be someone lurking in the shadows. 

Mal reached out, running a hand through Evie’s hair. “You ready?” 

Evie smiled and Ben was taken aback at how brilliant her smile was. He had seen her smile before, of course, and there was no doubting that she was gorgeous. But he had never seen her look so happy. 

“So ready.” Evie said. “Come on.” 

“Ben and Carlos, stay near the door.” Mal called out as they climbed up the stairs. She turned the doorknob and Ben was surprised to see that it was unlocked. 

Mal, Evie, and Jay walked into the house, while Ben stayed near the door with Carlos as he was told. 

He heard someone walking through the house, and then two figures joined the in the room. The light switched on and he could see them better. 

The girl, Uma, had dark skin and teal braids. She was dressed in leather, of course. She was scowling and had her arms crossed over her chest. There was a boy standing next to her with dark hair and bright blue eyes who he assumed was Evie’s brother. He was wearing red leather and had eyeliner surrounding his eyes. There was a hook where one of his hands should be.

“Uma look, it’s Mal and her bitch!” the boy shouted, then smiled. “Oh, and Evie is here too.” Jay rolled his eyes, causing the boy to cackle loudly. 

Ben was surprised. He seemed very different than Evie, so it was weird that this was her brother. He kept observing. 

The boy looked at Mal, who reluctantly nodded. He went over to Evie and pulled her into a hug. Evie hugged back. 

“Hi Harry.” She greeted. 

“I’m happy to see you’re okay.” He responded softly, then kissed her cheek. 

Evie moved away from him and over to the other girl. She nodded towards her. “Uma.” 

“Blue.” She raised an eyebrow. “A message saying you were coming would have been nice.” 

“There was no time. I’m sorry.” 

Uma looked at Harry. “I don’t think it’s us that she wants to see. Go get her.” Ben saw Uma look at the rest of them. He noticed she didn’t greet Mal, Jay, or Carlos, and it seemed like there was an invisible line in the middle of the room that only Evie could cross. “Interesting. You brought the prince with you?” 

Evie shrugged. “He wanted to see what he’ll be getting himself into. He has plans to do some Isle reform.” 

Uma scoffed. “Good luck.” 

Harry came back into the room with a baby in his arms. Evie stepped forward immediately, accepting the little bundle. 

“Hello, my love.” She cradled her carefully and leaned down to kiss her cheek. “Mama’s here. You have no idea how much I missed you.” She kissed her again, then turned around and walked back over to Mal. 

Ben had never seen Mal look as soft or gentle as she did when she stroked the baby’s cheek. 

“She’s bigger.” Evie said quietly. “Her hair is longer.” She stayed next to Mal, but moved so she could face Harry and Uma. “I know you don’t like to hear this, but thank you. I can tell she’s been well taken care of.” 

Uma shrugged. “We all agreed to be better than our parents. That baby deserves to be shown the love none of us ever got.” 

Ben thought that was a nice statement. He was confused about the relationship here and could tell things were tense, but it was obvious that Uma and Harry weren’t bad people or they wouldn’t have been trusted to keep Evie’s daughter. 

Uma smiled and Ben could have never guessed her next words. “Now, when do we go to Auradon?”


	29. Broken Trust

_For years now, Mal’s crew had been dealing with a lot of shit. They were constantly given work to do by their parents. Jafar and Cruella were big fans of physically abusing their children, while Maleficent tended to dabble in a mixture of beating Mal and mentally manipulating her, and Evie had the unfortunate luck of dealing with mental, emotional, and sexual abuse (which sometimes got physical). They very rarely had a spare moment to just sit and enjoy being teenagers. But even they couldn’t have predicted the shitstorm that would hit right as Evie neared the end of her pregnancy._

_Mal had been doing so much work to make sure her girl and this baby survived. As soon as they realized Evie was pregnant, she had pushed herself into overdrive making sure their territory was safe and they had everything they needed. It was no secret that Evie wasn’t exactly the healthiest person on the Isle, and she was very underweight due to her mother forcing an eating disorder on her. But Mal would do anything to keep her safe._

_Evie was confined to the hideout and they were definitely feeling her absence; without her smooth talking, they were having to rely on violent tactics or Jay stealing some of the things Evie used to get from the market for them. Regardless of that, Mal was determined to bring home even more food than they were used to._

_The big surprise in all of this had been Harry and Uma’s involvement. Mal had gone to them to talk about protecting territory, but they had invested a lot more interest. While fish wasn’t safe for the baby, they did their best to send over any extra fruits and vegetables they were able to get on drop off days._

_It was a fight every single day to get Evie to eat the food they collected. Most of the time, there was a big enough supply that all four of them could eat. But sometimes, usually right before the next drop off, their supply would dwindle. Evie would cry as Mal forced her to eat excess food while her, Jay, and Carlos would go two or three days on just water._

_“I know you don’t want to eat, baby. But you have to.” Mal begged, bringing the spoon of oatmeal up to Evie’s lips._

_“I can’t eat anymore.” Evie cried._

_“Listen to me. If you don’t gain weight, then you and this baby are not going to survive. I know that you’re conflicted on how to feel about the baby and I get that. But I cannot live in a world where you’re not here, so I need you to get it together. I’m not losing you, Evie.”_

_Evie opened her mouth, letting Mal feed her the oatmeal. She grimaced the whole time she choked it down._

_Mal did her best to increase Evie’s calorie intake. She gave her extra water. She spoke to allies and found remedies that would help with nausea to help keep Evie from vomiting up all the food she worked so hard to eat. She gave her daily back and foot rubs to help with the soreness. She got what she needed to make cream to get rid of stretch marks. She took watches throughout the night with Jay and Carlos to make sure Evie could get an uninterrupted, safe night of sleep. She held her when everything got to be too much and she sobbed into her chest, whispering how she didn’t want to be a mom._

_On the Isle, there weren’t really any doctors or trained medical professionals, so they had to teach themselves skills using books. Carlos had been devouring every baby book he could get his hands on, and after he was done with it, he would pass it off to Evie and Mal. There were many nights where they would take turns reading pages to each other, trying to prepare for what was coming._

_The part they were most scared of was labor. If anything went wrong, Mal knew the chances of Evie and the baby surviving would be slim. They would have no idea how to fix any issues. Towards the last month of Evie’s pregnancy, Mal would have nightmares almost every single night about Evie bleeding out during labor, and then Mal would be stuck with the child that was forced upon her girlfriend and then ended up killing her._

_They knew they had to get advice from someone who had been through this before, but someone who wouldn’t spread the information around the Isle. An ally of Mal’s, a girl named Ginny Gothel, ended up leading them to the right person. Mother Gothel had delivered multiple Isle children, including Ginny completely on her own. It was an added bonus that she had been exiled by Maleficent, and Grimhilde hated her and thought she was weak for having to steal a princess instead of finding a way to become a queen and give birth to her own. Mal and Carlos paid her a visit, listening to all the information she had to offer them. They made sure to leave her some valuables in exchange for her silence._

_It was March now, the month the baby would be born. Evie was uncomfortable and sore at all times, so Mal didn’t really go to school as much. There were days that she would be called upon by her mother, but if Maleficent didn’t need her, then she stayed in the hideout. Jay was doing a job for Jafar and Carlos had gone to school, so it was just the two of them._

_“Mal.” Evie moaned miserably._

_“Shhh, I know, baby.” Mal rubbed her back as Evie buried her face in her chest. It was still so weird to feel the big baby bump pressed against her body when she hugged Evie. “Where does it hurt?”_

_“Everywhere. My back hurts, my stomach hurts, my boobs are so sore, my feet are killing me, even my head hurts.” Evie sighed. “I’m sorry I complain so much.”_

_“You have every right to complain right now.” Mal reassured her, leaning in to give her a kiss. “It’s almost over.”_

_They heard a noise outside and immediately quieted down. Mal sat up in bed, causing Evie to groan when she jostled her, sending pain through her body. Then, they heard the unmistakable sound of a rock hitting the sign._

_“I’m going to go make sure everything’s good.” Mal kissed Evie’s lips. “Stay here, close your eyes. Take a nap.” She covered her with the blanket and then went into the main area._

_The last thing Mal was expecting to see was Carlos, bloodied and bruised, limping up the stairs._

_“What the fuck happened?” she hissed, trying to keep her voice low so she didn’t alert Evie._

_Carlos collapsed onto the couch with a groan. “Robbie.”_

_Mal frowned. Robbie was Quinton’s right hand man, and she absolutely despised him. “When? Why? Where? What happened?”_

_“You’re asking too many questions.” Carlos responded._

_“Answer them!”_

_“I was on the way home from school. He cornered me in the market and said Q’s not going to stop looking for Evie until he sees a body, and he knows we’re hiding her somewhere. He beat me up, then said that if Q doesn’t get what’s his, it’ll be much worse next time.”_

_“Fuck.” Mal moaned. “We can’t deal with this shit right now. The baby can come any day.”_

_Behind her, they heard a gasp. Evie came into the room, wobbling due to her big belly. Because she was already so small, her belly poked out even more than the typical pregnant woman. Mal thought it was cute, but Evie strongly disagreed._

_“What the fuck happened?” Evie demanded._

_Carlos chuckled. “That’s exactly what Mal said.”_

_“Are you just going to stand there or are you going to help him!?” she yelled at Mal. Evie slowly sat down on the couch next to Carlos and grabbed his chin, turning his face to the side. “I don’t think your nose is broken, but it’s going to be bruised up.”_

_Mal left the room to grab ice packs, a bucket of water, and a washcloth. She handed it all to Evie, who started to carefully wipe the blood off of Carlos’s face._

_They heard a rock against the sign and knew it must be the final member of their group. Jay came jogging up the stairs. “Hey guys, you’ll never guess what I…” he trailed off as soon as he saw Carlos. “What the fuck happened?”_

_“Q.” Mal answered. “We’ve got to take care of this problem sooner rather than later. It can’t be avoided anymore.”_

_Jay nodded. “Whatever you’re thinking, I’m in.”_

\-----

_“You did what now?” Uma questioned. She was sitting on the side of her ship, staring out at the ocean._

_“We retaliated against Quinton.” Mal responded. “One of his guys beat up Carlos, so we killed one of his.”_

_“You really don’t consider the consequences before you do dumb shit, do you?”_

_Mal frowned. Uma may be her ally now, but things were still tense between them. “Excuse me? It’s not like they went after some random person in my crew. They attacked_ Carlos. _You’re telling me that if someone beat up Gil or Harry, you wouldn’t do the same?”_

_“Not if I was in your situation.” Uma said. “Listen to me. We’re allies now, and my crew is doing what we can to keep your territory safe. But I am not sacrificing my crew to protect you when you run off and provoke Quinton by starting fights.”_

_Mal rolled her eyes. “What would you have done then?”_

_“Ignored it for now.” Uma looked around, making sure no one in her crew was standing nearby. “That baby is coming any day. Don’t push your luck, Mal.”_

_“I just wanted to give you a heads up. We’re leaving now.” Mal turned, walking down the ramp and off the boat. Harry, Jay, and Carlos were waiting there. “Let’s go, boys.”_

_“Tell Evie hi for me.” Harry told her._

_“I will.” Mal nodded towards Jay and Carlos and they started to walk. Typically, they didn’t leave Evie in the hideout alone, but Carlos wouldn’t have been much help anyway. Mal liked to have someone to watch her back when they met with Uma- they might be allies now, but old habits die hard. She was starting to get a bad feeling._

_As they got to the border of Uma’s territory and Mal’s territory, they could hear rustling noises. Suddenly, a couple members of Quinton’s crew appeared from the shadows._

_“You kill one of ours, we will kill all of yours.” One of them sneered._

_“Go.” Jay muttered. “Take the one out closest to our territory and then go. Get to her.”_

_Mal didn’t even hesitate. The fight broke out quickly, and luckily they were still on Uma’s territory and she had some people posted nearby. Mal took out the closest guy and then ran faster than she ever had, even faster than the night Harry and Uma brought Evie back to their ship._

_She alerted a few members of her crew about what was happening with Jay and Carlos, telling them to go help. Then, she made her way to the hideout._

_“E?” she shouted as soon as she was inside._

_“MAL!”_

_Her stomach dropped at the pain-filled scream and she raced up the stairs. Had Quinton found her? Was he upstairs hurting her right now? Did he send one of his men to take her?_

_When Mal turned the corner, she found Evie laying on the couch. She gasped, her hand gripping her back._

_“What’s wrong, baby? Are you okay?”_

_Evie’s eyes were wide and there were tears pouring down her cheeks. “The baby is coming.”_

_Mal opened her mouth, then shut it, then opened it again. She had no idea what to say. All of the information she had spent the past nine months soaking up flew out of her brain._

_“What do I do?” she questioned._

_“I’m scared.” Evie confessed. “You have to help me, Mal. Please help me.”_

_Mal decided to do what she did best. She pulled her girlfriend into her arms and kissed her face. “I’m here. I’m not going to let anything happen to you, okay? Where does it hurt?”_

_“My back.”_

_“Scoot up.” She helped Evie into a sitting position and moved so she could sit behind her. Mal started to rub her lower back._

_“Right there.” Evie groaned. “Oh my God, it hurts.”_

_“Just breathe, Princess. Nice and slow like we practiced.”_

_After a few minutes of quiet, Evie spoke. “How did the meeting with Uma go?”_

_“She was less than impressed.”_

_“That’s surprising.”_

_“She said we’re not in the situation to retaliate right now. After what happened on the way home, I would have to agree.”_

_Evie looked over her shoulder. “What happened on the way home?”_

_Mal realized her girlfriend had no idea. “We were attacked by Quinton’s crew. Some of Uma’s people were coming, so I left to send some of our crew, then I came here to make sure you were safe.” She kissed her neck. “Good thing I did.”_

_Evie moved, resting her back against Mal’s chest. “Carlos is already beat up. There’s no way he can fight.”_

_“He’s strong. He can handle it.” Mal wrapped her arm around her, resting a hand on her bump._

_Evie moaned. “Can you rub my stomach now?”_

_“Whatever you want, baby.”_

\-----

_As the night dragged on, Evie’s pain increased. Mal was doing her best to comfort her, but the contractions were coming quickly. She couldn’t handle seeing her girl bawling her eyes out._

_They had moved to the floor after Evie insisted on getting on her hands and knees. The new position had given Mal perfect access to her back and relieved some of the pain there, but she was still hurting everywhere else._

_Evie collapsed against Mal, sitting between her legs and burying her face in her neck. Mal was rubbing her back when suddenly, they heard a loud noise outside._

_Mal listened, trying to tell if it was Jay or Carlos, but she heard multiple sets of footsteps. She could hear metal clashing._

_“Shhh, stay right here.” She whispered. She crawled across the floor and peaked out the window._

_Mal was surprised to see that the fighting had spilled over this far into her territory. She recognized some of Q’s guys, some of her crew, and some of Uma’s crew attacking each other nearby. Their swords were colliding loudly and some of them were bloody._

_“Shit.” Mal cursed. That meant she was completely on her own. Even if something bad did happen right now, she wouldn’t be able to get help without giving Evie’s location away._

_Evie gasped loudly and Mal saw how hard she was struggling. She knew they had to be getting close. Evie had told her she had been feeling pains since yesterday, which Mal was now assuming were part of her labor. The contractions were coming faster now and lasting longer, and the pain was getting more intense._

_Mal crawled back over to Evie quickly, holding a hand over her mouth. “You have to stay quiet, baby. They’re fighting right outside.”_

_Evie shook her head. “I can’t do this. I’m not strong enough.”_

_“You are. You are the strongest person I know, do you hear me?” Mal kissed her. “I know you’re scared. I’m scared too. But you have no other choice than to bring this baby into the world. You’ve eaten extra food so your body is strong enough and so you’ll be able to breastfeed once the baby comes. You’ve hidden away for nine months. You are doing everything you can, E. It’s going to be okay.”_

_Right then, another contraction hit. Mal moved so she was behind her girlfriend with Evie’s back resting against her chest. Evie let out a whine, causing Mal to cover mouth again._

_“You’ve got this, baby girl. You’re okay. They’ll leave soon. It’s okay.” Mal felt sick when she looked down, seeing that Evie’s thighs were covered in blood. She didn’t usually have a problem with blood, but if it was Evie’s, she couldn’t stomach it. It had always been planned that Carlos would be the one to do the delivery so Mal could comfort her and avoid the blood._

_“It’s getting worse.” Evie cried. She was drenched in sweat, sobbing, and exhausted. Mal didn’t know how to help her. “I feel like I need to push.”_

_“You can’t push yet.” Mal refused._

_That’s when Evie screamed. Mal felt guilty for how hard she slapped her hand over Evie’s mouth, but she was sure it didn’t even compare to the rest of the pain the girl was feeling._

_“Shhh, Evie. You have to stop. I’m sorry, baby, but you can’t scream.” She held her as tightly as she could._

_“M.” Evie whimpered in pain._

_“It’s okay. Breathe.”_

_“It hurts so bad.” Evie moaned, her head falling back to rest on Mal’s shoulder. “It’s starting again.”_

_This time, Mal had a second of warning to carefully cover her mouth. She felt tears spring to her eyes as Evie’s entire body tensed up, writhing uncomfortably in her arms._

_Mal would have never, ever imagined that she would have to sit on the floor of the hideout with Evie between her legs, bloody and screaming as Mal covers her mouth to hold in her cries so their enemies won’t hear Evie giving birth to a baby that was conceived by rape with a man she then had to murder._

_“I love you.” Mal whispered. She tried to wipe the tears off of Evie’s cheeks. “You are amazing. Just keep holding on, baby.”_

_Suddenly, Evie looked at her with wide eyes. She reached her hands down and started to yank at the shorts she was wearing._

_“Stop, E. It’s okay.” Mal tried to calm her down._

_Evie shook her head frantically, another scream escaping as she spread her legs and tried to yank her shorts down. Mal covered her mouth, trying hard to listen to the noise outside to see how close they were. Evie was getting so loud that she was worried covering her mouth wouldn’t be enough._

_Evie sank back into her, panting heavily. Her hands were still reaching for her shorts._

_“Just hold on a little longer, Princess.”_

_“I can’t.” Evie said. “The baby is coming now, M. You have to help me.”_

_Mal kneeled down in front of her. She really, really didn’t want to know what was happening, but she knew she didn’t have a choice. She grabbed Evie’s bloody shorts and underwear and yanked them off._

_She was shocked to see that the baby’s head was coming out._

_“Uh, Evie, uh the baby’s head…” she tried to explain. Evie just let her head fall back and whined._

_Mal scrambled back over to the window, seeing that outside was empty. She knew she couldn’t trust that they were out of hearing range, but at least they weren’t right outside._

_“Okay, we can do this.” Mal said, trying her best to be reassuring. “Push when you’re ready.”_

_“I can’t.” Evie whimpered. “I can’t do it.”_

_“Yes you can. Just breathe through the pain.”_

_Evie nodded and then started to moan again. Mal grabbed her thighs, pushing them apart. She felt nauseous as she saw blood pouring out of her girlfriend’s body and the head getting closer to coming out._

_Mal heard a rock hit the sign outside. If it was anyone other than Carlos and Jay, they were fucked. There was no way she would be able to get Evie out of here, not with a baby about to fall out of her body._

_She sighed in relief when Carlos came running up the stairs. “Oh shit.” He said, dropping down beside her. “Oh wow, it’s close. You’re almost there, Eves.”_

_“Did anyone see you? They were right outside.” Mal said._

_“Things shifted closer to the water.”_

_“Where’s…Jay…” Evie panted out._

_“He’s safe.”_

_“Mal, can you hold me?” Evie questioned._

_“Whatever you need, Princess.” Mal moved back so she was behind her. Carlos was still kneeling in front of her and luckily seemed a lot more confident._

_“If I scream, cover my mouth.” Evie said._

_“They’re not as close anymore, it’s okay.”_

_“No. I don’t want there to be any chance that they’ll hear me.” Evie pleaded. “Please, M.”_

_“Okay.” Mal kissed her forehead._

_“Mal, you’re going to hold her legs.” Carlos said. Mal nodded and reached forward, Evie resting against her chest and both of her legs in her hands. “Push when you feel ready, E.”_

_Evie pushed and at first, she was quiet, but then she started to scream. Mal was holding her legs so she didn’t have a hand to cover her mouth. She stretched her arm over instead, wincing as Evie bit down on her skin._

_“The head’s completely out.” Carlos informed them. “He or she has a head full of dark hair.”_

_Evie reached out, rubbing the place on Mal’s arm that she had bitten. “I’m sorry.”_

_“Don’t apologize. It’s fine.” Mal gave her a kiss. “I love you so much. You are so brave, Pretty Girl.”_

_Evie whimpered. “I have to push again.”_

_“Mal, hold her left leg. I’ll hold her right so you can cover her mouth.” Carlos stated. They got into position as Evie pushed again._

_“Good, baby. You’re doing so, so good.” Mal praised, kissing Evie’s sweaty forehead. “It’s almost over.”_

_Evie pushed again, her whole body tensing up as she used all of her strength._

_All of a sudden, Evie felt a weight on her chest. She looked down, seeing that it was her baby._

_Ever since she found out she was pregnant, she had doubted her ability to be a mom. She wondered if she would feel a connection to the baby once it arrived. She was so scared that she would be like her mother and feel absolutely nothing for her child._

_But the minute Carlos put the bloody, screaming baby on her chest, Evie fell in love. Tears spilled down her cheeks as she reached up to touch its head._

_“Hi baby.” She whispered. “I’m your mama.”_

_Evie heard sniffling and turned her head slightly, seeing that Mal was crying too. Even Carlos had tears in his eyes as he cut the cord that connected them._

_Mal leaned over, grabbing a blanket off the couch. “Here.” She covered the baby with it. Evie turned her head and buried her face in Mal’s chest as the baby quieted down._

_“Push one last time, E. We need to deliver the placenta.” Carlos said._

_Evie was grateful for the millionth time for Carlos. He had really stepped up to help her during the pregnancy and she could never repay him._

_She moved the blanket away from a moment and used her last bit of strength to turn the baby. She smiled when she saw._

_“It’s a girl.” She whispered. “Gabriella.”_

_Mal kissed her forehead, then her cheek, then her lips. “You are so fucking incredible, baby girl.”_

_“I’m so tired.” Evie told her._

_“I know. I don’t want you to get up though, so you’re going to have to rest here.”_

_“Don’t forget, skin to skin is the best for newborns.” Carlos chimed in._

_Mal helped Evie lean up so she could pull her shirt off. As soon as Evie’s bare skin touched her baby’s, she felt overwhelming calmness. Mal covered them both with the blanket and Evie let her eyes shut as she just took this all in._

_Five days before her 16th birthday and she was suddenly a mother._

\-----

“Now, when do we go to Auradon?”

As soon as Evie heard Uma’s words, she felt dread fill her stomach. She tightened her arms around Ellie. She was grateful that her daughter was sleeping and wouldn’t have to hear what was bound to be an argument. 

Mal stepped forward. “Yeah, that’s the problem here.” 

Uma glared, looking at them in disbelief. “We had a deal, Mal. You agreed to it.” 

Things were bound to get ugly between the two of them; they had always despised each other. Evie and Uma weren’t best friends or anything, but they did have a mutual respect for each other, mostly because of their connections to Harry. She knew it was best if she took over. 

“If you leave right now, the Isle is going to be torn apart by Quinton.” Evie reminded her. “Uma, I swear to you that we are doing everything we can to get you off this island. But we have to think of everyone else too. This isn’t only about you.” 

Uma stepped forward until they were only inches apart. “You better watch yourself, Blue.” 

Before Evie could respond, she felt a hand yanking her backwards and then Mal was in Uma’s face. “I don’t think she’s the one who has to worry here. You know the rule. If you even _look_ at her in a way I think is offensive, you’re dead.” 

Evie wasn’t expecting Uma to throw her head back and laugh. “Wow, guess the friendship is over, huh? I can help protect your little whore when she’s pregnant, and I can watch your kid for two months, but you can’t hold up your end of bargain?” 

Evie’s heart was breaking for Uma. They were putting her in such an unfair position, but she needed her to understand why. “What about Dizzy and Celia?” she interrupted her rant, completely ignoring the insults Uma had thrown her way. “If your territory is given up, that means they don’t have any protection anymore. You know Q will go after any attachments first. I know you’re pissed, and this is a shitty situation.” Evie glanced down at Ellie, watching the gentle rise and fall of her chest. “I owe you my life for what you’ve done for me, and I promise that I won’t forget that. We’re getting you out of here as soon as Ben can find a way to help everyone.” 

Uma let out another cold laugh. “You want me to trust _him_?” she looked Ben up and down in disgust. “His parents are the reason we’re here.” 

“You have no reason to trust me.” Ben said, surprising everyone in the room. He walked over until he could stand next to Evie and Mal. “I get that, okay? I know you all think I’m just a kid with an impossible dream.” He turned towards Evie, Mal, Carlos, and Jay. “I’ve given you all the benefit of the doubt. I’ve learned that you’re not anything like your parents, so why can’t you give me the same chance to prove that I’m not like mine?” 

Evie had never considered that before. Of course she had some faith in Ben or else she never would have told him about Ellie, but she never thought about how much it probably hurt him for everyone to throw his parents’ mistakes in his face. 

Harry moved forward, speaking for the first time since they started arguing. “Before you go, can I say goodbye?”

Evie didn’t trust a lot of people. She had plenty of reasons not to trust others, especially men. But she trusted Jay and Carlos with her life, and though that bond wasn’t as strong with Harry, she did trust him too. 

Her mother had gotten pregnant with Harry first. She had been ecstatic, hoping for a daughter so she could raise the perfect little princess. Hook, on the other hand, was hoping for a son. He already had a daughter, CJ, but he wanted a son. The two of them knew a relationship between them would never work, so they made an agreement- if it was a girl, Grimhilde would raise her. If it was a boy, he would be passed to Hook. When Harry came along, he was given to his father since Grimhilde had no use for a boy. She did pop in and out of his life from time to time, and she would guilt him into doing favors for her, but he was raised almost completely by her father. 

Evie was born eleven months later and that’s when her mother could finally fulfill her dreams. She and Harry weren’t raised together, but they always knew that the other existed and she did feel a sense of loyalty to him. Especially right now when she was about to break the deal they had made. 

Evie felt Mal tense up beside her as she stepped forward. She growled. “Evie, don’t you dare.” 

“ _Trust_ , Mal.” She said as she turned to her girlfriend. “I trust that Harry would never hurt her, just like we need Uma to trust us that we’re coming back for her.” Evie passed Ellie over to Harry. 

Mal rolled her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. She was obviously still pissed. Evie was starting to get a headache; this was emotional overload. 

“Can I talk to you outside?” she said to Mal, not even giving her a chance to respond before she turned and walked towards the door. 

Mal sighed, but followed behind her. She stopped next to Jay. “Your eyes better be glued to Ellie at all times.” 

“Of course.” 

Evie walked down the stairs and stood, waiting until Mal came up next to her. As soon as she was close enough, she grabbed her cheeks and leaned in, giving her a slow, soft kiss. 

“I’m allowed to be pissed.” Mal told her immediately after they separated. “She can’t talk to you like that and get away with it.” 

“You’re amazing and I know you want to defend my honor, but I can take it.” Evie reassured her. “Uma has done a lot for us, and I don’t blame her for being pissed at this fucked up situation.” She leaned in and gave her another kiss. “Please don’t do anything drastic, like go in there and start an argument.” 

Mal huffed. “We have too much to risk.” 

Evie smiled. “Exactly.”

They heard the stairs creak and turned, seeing Ben and Carlos coming over to them. Mal pulled away from Evie. 

“I’m going back in to grab her. Stay right here.” She gave her one last kiss and went inside. 

“You never mentioned that you made that deal with Uma.” Ben stated. “Why wouldn’t you tell me you promised she could come to Auradon?” 

Evie looked at the ground. “I’m sorry.” 

“I could have arranged for it to work.” 

Evie lifted her head, looking at him in surprise. “Why would you do that?”

“Because it was part of your deal.” 

“You don’t owe me anything, Ben. You don’t have to honor my deals.” 

“I owe all of you the chance to prove you can be good, Uma included.” 

“Like we told you before, we can’t just take Uma off the Isle. If we do that, there won’t be anyone here to protect the other kids.” 

“You said Dizzy and Celia. Are those other kids?”

“Yes, they’re part of our crew.” Evie sighed. “Once we get back to Auradon, can you please try and help me find a way to bring Uma and Harry over?” 

Ben nodded. “They’ll be first on the list.” He smiled. “Now, I need to know what a place called Curl Up ‘N Dye could possibly be.” 

Carlos started to explain that it was a hair salon. Evie was listening at first, but then, she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She could feel that something wasn’t right. 

Even she wouldn’t have expected to turn around and see the Evil Queen standing right behind her.


	30. No More

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter is kind of short, but very important to the story. Warning for the typical stuff. 
> 
> Let me know what you think!

It had been close to a year and a half since Evie had seen her mother in person, and she hadn’t changed a bit. She still wore that same, tight expression. Her eyes scanned over her critically. Her mouth pulled into a smirk, showing off her teeth. 

Evie had never been as afraid of her as she was in the moment. 

When she was with her mother, the only thing she had to worry about was herself. Grimhilde only ever went after Evie, so even though her crew was pissed about how she treated her, she knew they were safe. 

But now, after she had disappeared for over a year? She knew her mother would take her leaving as a personal attack. She might finally snap on Mal or the boys. She might take her anger out on Harry. She might look towards that innocent baby girl and decide that she didn’t deserve to live. 

A year and a half ago, Evie had nothing to lose but her sanity and her life. Now? She had everything.

She turned slightly so she could see who was outside. Ben was still talking, but Carlos was silent, obviously picking up on the fact that they weren’t alone. He turned and as soon as his eyes landed on the Evil Queen, his gaze drifted over to Evie. 

“Genevieve, is that any way to greet your mother?” 

Her shrill voice sounded like nails on a chalkboard. Evie nearly flinched. Sure, she had talked to her on video chat, but this was her first time actually hearing her voice in so long. She couldn’t believe she had been naïve enough to believe she never would again. 

“I can’t believe my two disappointing bastards decided to meet up and didn’t invite me.” She stepped closer. “I had to hear it from one of Quinton’s boys. That Quinton is such a lovely boy, he has taken care of me even in your absence.” She took another step, leaving a short distance between them. 

Evie knew she was probably as pale as a ghost. Her heart was racing and her hands were shaking; she clasped them together in front of her to try and hide it. “Mother, what are you doing here?” she said, trying to make her voice sound strong. 

“I told you, little girl. You will never be away from me.” Evil Queen stepped forward, her hand shooting out and grabbing a handful of Evie’s hair before she even had a second to react. She yanked her closer. “You’re still a useless slut, I see. Pressing your mouth against that little devil’s out here where anyone can see.” Her cheeks got redder as her anger grew, her eyes looking darker. “But I don’t know why I’m surprised; you never had a problem with whoring yourself out to whoever would lower themselves enough to want to touch you.” 

That’s when Evie snapped. 

Why should she have to sit here and listen to her mother belittle and degrade her? There had been plenty of things Evie blamed herself for, but she would not let the Evil Queen stand here and say that sleeping with those men was her fault. Not in front of Ben and Carlos. 

She reached her hand up and dug her nails as hard as she could into her arm. EQ gasped and let go of her hair. 

Evie stood up straight, looking her right in the eyes. “I’m not scared of you anymore.” 

She knew she made a mistake as soon as her mother tilted her head to the side, beginning to look even more crazed. Evie might have everything to lose now, but her mother had nothing. That made her even more dangerous. 

“Then Auradon has made you an even dumber bitch than I thought.” She slapped Evie so hard across the face that she felt her ears start ringing. EQ must have been wearing rings because Evie’s face was burning and she could feel blood dripping down her cheek. 

Before she could move, she felt something pressed up against her neck. She looked down, seeing that her mother was now holding a knife up to her throat. Evie took a deep breath to try and calm herself down. 

She heard Carlos’s footsteps behind her. “Evie…” 

Evil Queen laughed. “What will you do, boy? All I have to do is yell and someone will send your mother here. Do you really want the future king to know that you used to eat out of a dog bowl?” Evie let out a little growl at her words. “What are you going to do, slut? You can’t protect the weak little boy in this position.” 

Then, the worst possible thing that could have happened did. She heard the front door of Harry’s house open and her favorite person’s voice. “Evie, I…” 

Her mother whipped her around, turning so that Evie’s back was pressed against her chest and she was facing Mal. Mal was holding a still sleeping Ellie in her arms and Jay was right behind her. As soon as she saw Evie, Mal froze, scanning over her body. When she saw the knife, her eyes lit up brightly.

Harry and Uma followed behind them, stopping in their tracks at the sight in front of them. Uma cracked her neck. “Guess I’ll have to help save your asses again.” 

Mal passed the baby to her without question, knowing that even on their bad terms, Uma would never hurt Ellie. Evie was infinitely grateful and hoped that Uma and Harry would be able to get their crew to help so that Mal could still take Ellie to Auradon even after she was killed by her mother. 

“Oh good, now we have an audience. You always loved putting on a show for everyone, Genevieve. Would you feel more comfortable if I stripped you out of your clothes first?” Evie heard Mal growl and could see her expression growing darker, her gaze zeroed in on EQ. “Harry, it’s truly a shame that you chose the wrong side. After I end your sister’s life, I’ll have to go after you next.” 

Uma scoffed. “Bitch, you’re even more psychotic than you look if you think you’re putting a hand on him.” 

“I’ll deal with you soon enough. But first, let’s get back to Mommy’s little princess.” She yanked Evie closer, her nails digging harshly into her ribs to hold her still as the knife pressed harder into her throat. “My question is why are you back on the Isle? Did you miss me, Genevieve? Do you miss being pretty?” she squeezed her stomach. “You’ve really let yourself go since you left, you know. The chunky look might work on some girls, but you’re just a cow.” 

Evie’s eyes were locked with Mal’s, trying to block out the insults her mother was hurling at her. Her eyes darted over to her daughter, hoping Mal would get the message. She wished that Mal would just take Ellie and run. There was no way she was getting out of this and she just wanted her to be safe. 

As soon as Evie opened her mouth to respond, Evil Queen brought her hand down and punched her hard in the stomach. “Don’t you dare talk back to me, you dyke. I should have wised up and ended your sorry life a long time ago.” She grabbed her chin harshly, forcing her to turn her head and face her. “Not only are your hips practically spilling over your jeans, but you have also never had an intelligent thought in your miserable existence, there’s nothing about you that’s pretty to look at, and you are a fucked up little bitch for touching a girl the way you should be touching a prince.”

Suddenly, the knife was being pressed harder into her throat, finally making a cut and drawing some blood. Evie couldn’t hold back her whimper. She saw that Mal had moved, trying to get closer to her. She looked back towards Uma; luckily, it looked like Ellie was still sleeping. Jay was next to Carlos and Ben, and Uma and Harry were still on the porch with Ellie. 

“Don’t you dare come closer.” Evil Queen threatened. “I’ll slice her throat.” She yanked her hair back, forcing Evie to make eye contact again. “Answer the question, Genevieve. Why are you back?”

“Mother…”

“My guess is that it has to do with the little parasite your eyes keep drifting towards. Your hips are wider, your breasts have grown, and obviously you’ve gained weight.” 

Evie couldn’t school her features quickly enough. She bit down on her lip, feeling her pulse quickening. There was no way her mother could get to Ellie. She wouldn’t let her destroy her baby the way she had done to her. 

Evil Queen grinned. “I’m right, aren’t I?” she shook her head, tightening her hold on Evie’s hair to the point that it made her eyes water. “You’re not even a good slut. The first rule is to not get yourself knocked up.” She used the hand she had in her hair to yank her head to the side, forcing her to stare directly at Ben. “Tell me, have you told the good people of Auradon that you like whoring yourself out?” 

Evie could see Ben’s confusion. She knew that some of his innocence was being stolen away right now and she hated that it was at the hands of her mother. She hated that this was all because he had come to the Isle to help her. This was all her fault. She had been so stupid to believe that they could take Ellie away and no one would notice. 

“Did you give Prince Ben a turn with you?” her mother’s voice brought her back to the moment. Evie finally felt tears start to drip down her cheeks as she locked eyes with the sweet, kind, sheltered prince. “Did you show him all the things you can do?” 

“Evie…” her eyes darted to the side, focusing in on Mal. 

“Do not speak or I will end her life!” her mother’s voice boomed, pulling her even closer. “I was going to cut out the heart of my stepdaughter. Do you think the fact that we share blood changes things? I will kill this worthless trash in seconds, then go after that mistake!” 

Evie lunged forward involuntarily, causing the knife to dig deeper into her skin. She cried out as her mother kicked her until she was down on her knees. She couldn’t let her get to Ellie. There was no way she would let her put a hand on her. 

The Evil Queen stood over her, her left hand holding a handful of blue hair and her right hand still holding a knife to her throat. She leaned down so she could be closer to Evie’s ear. 

“How fitting. You’ll get to leave this world in your favorite position.” She yanked her head up, forcing Evie to look at her. She tried to hold in her tears to hide her weakness. “Maybe I should let Quinton have one last turn with you. Then I can put us both out of our misery and get rid of you, then your bastard.” 

Evie didn’t even understand how it happened. She slammed her head backwards, knocking it hard into her mother’s face. Then, she whipped around, using all of her strength to push the Evil Queen down. She got a hand around her wrist that was holding the knife and slammed it into the grass, causing it to fall out of her hand and onto the ground.

Evie pounced on top of her mother, kneeling on her chest and wrapping her hand around her throat in seconds. She had never felt as much rage as she did in that moment. 

“You think I’m a slut?” she shouted. “Out of all the people I have slept with, only one was my choice, and that was Mal.” She tightened her fingers around her throat. “ _You_ are the one who let those men into my bedroom, the one who listened to me screaming and had the nerve to criticize me for not pleasing them. _You_ sold me to Quinton knowing what he would do to me.” She leaned closer to her. “You will never have the chance to get near me, or my child.” 

Though she was pinned to the ground and struggling to breath, the Evil Queen choked on her laughter. Her piercing eyes stared right into Evie’s soul. 

“Oh my sweet Evie. You think you are so brave for doing this, don’t you? Do you think this will be the end? Even if you end my life, it will never stop. You’ll see me every single time you look in the mirror. Every time you think about your weight. Every time you shove your fingers down your throat. Every time you let another person touch you the way I let those men touch you.” 

Evie felt her chest heaving as she listened to her mother’s words. She knew it was true, but it didn’t matter. She had to do something. 

The Evil Queen mustered up whatever air she could to continue to speak. _“I own you.”_

Evie reached to her side, grabbing the knife her mother had dropped on the ground. She didn’t even think before she plunged it straight into her heart. She let go of her throat, gripping the handle of the knife in both hands as she pulled it out, then brought it back down over and over and over again. She couldn’t see or think or hear, all she could do was pray that things were working and she would never have to live with her mother’s abuse again. 

“…stop. Evie, baby, stop. It’s over…” 

Evie recognized Mal’s voice in all of the fog surrounding her. She let it guide her like the light at the end of a tunnel, pulling her back to reality. All of her senses hit her at once. She could see her mother, lifeless and covered in blood. Her hands were shaking, completely red and still grasping the knife. She could hear Mal’s voice, trying to reassure her. She could smell the overwhelming irony scent of blood. 

What did she do? 

“I’m going to take the knife, baby. Let go.” She felt a hand touch her and flinched instantly. “It’s just me. It’s Mal, Princess. Let go of the knife.” 

Evie stopped squeezing, feeling the weight of the knife leave her hand. She watched as Mal held the knife out and Jay came over and took it. Then, Mal was reaching out for her. 

She felt completely numb. She could barely feel Mal’s hands running along her arms as she reached out and pulled her off of Grimhilde’s body. Mal held her on her lap. Evie let her push her head down on her shoulder to block her view of the body. If she saw it again, she thought she would be sick. 

Evie couldn’t even muster up any tears. She just leaned into Mal as her entire body shook, staring off at the big blue ocean that was on the other side of the barrier.


	31. Broken Expectations

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm glad you all thought EQ's death was satisfying! It was so much fun to write!
> 
> A lot of you were waiting for Ben's reaction. You'll get a lot of that in this chapter, and I think two chapters from now his thoughts are going to go a little more in depth. 
> 
> Let me know your thoughts!

_“Get up, Genevieve. You have a lesson soon.” Grimhilde stated as she stood in the doorway of her room._

_Fourteen year old Evie could barely lift her head off the pillow. “Please, Mother. No more.”_

_“I don’t have time for your games. If you delay this lesson, I will only make it worse. Get out of bed and get yourself ready. You will not be happy if I have to do it for you.”_

_“Please, no more lessons.” She pulled herself up to a sitting position, feeling the pain and soreness that was throbbing throughout her body. “Please don’t bring another man. My body is so sore.”_

_“You should have thought about that before you decided to run off and give yourself to another girl. You brought this on yourself so I don’t want to hear complaints.”_

_“I can’t do it. Please, Mother. It hurts.”_

_Grimhilde came closer, staring down at her with disgust. “If you don’t quit this whining, I will give you something to complain about, girl.”_

_Evie started to cry. She didn’t understand how anyone could do this to another person. What had she done that was so bad to deserve this? Why was it so wrong that her heart wanted Mal and Mal only?_

_“Why can’t you just love me, Mother?” she whimpered._

_The Evil Queen snatched her up by her neck, causing Evie to yelp. “How could I ever love something that disappoints me so much? When I look at you, I feel nothing. You are nothing more than a bargaining chip and if men didn’t fall over themselves to have a turn with you, no matter how used up you are, I would end your pathetic life myself.”_

_Evie flinched at her words. If even her own mother couldn’t love her, then what was her purpose? Why did her life need to continue?_

_EQ brought her close to her face. “No matter what you do or how much you beg, I will never care about you, Genevieve.”_

\-----

The minute Mal walked out of Harry’s home and saw the Evil Queen, she swore her heart stopped. She could see every muscle in Evie’s body was tense as her mother whipped her around, revealing that she was holding a knife against her throat. 

With every insult the woman hurled at her, Mal could see Evie’s tension growing and growing. At this point, there were only two options. Either EQ would kill Evie and then Mal would slaughter her without a second thought, or Evie would finally snap and do it herself. She obviously didn’t want Evie to have to bare the burden of killing her own mother, but if it came down to the two of them, she would pick Evie every single time. 

The beautiful brown eyes she loved so much kept darting towards her, as if she was begging her for a solution. Mal had never felt so powerless. If she got too close, her mother would slit her throat. She knew that the Evil Queen was not to be messed with, so she waited for an opening. 

She saw Evie keep looking towards Ellie, then back to Mal. The purple haired girl was perceptive enough to realize that Evie wanted her to take Ellie and run, but there was no way she could do that. Maybe it was selfish, but if Evie wasn’t on this planet, then Mal didn’t want to be either. She would throw herself into the ocean before she tried to survive in a world without the love of her life. 

Control over the situation shifted quickly, and as soon as Evie had her mother pinned, Mal stepped closer. She was ready to intervene if needed, but she wasn’t quick enough to step in before Evie stabbed her mother. 

Mal instantly felt sick as blood splattered everywhere. Evie took the knife out, jamming it repeatedly into her mother’s chest. She was relieved that the Evil Queen wouldn’t be a physical concern anymore, but she knew that this would without a doubt take a toll on Evie’s mental health. 

It wasn’t uncommon for Evie to detach from reality after a situation like this. She didn’t want to touch her because she was scared she might hurt herself or turn the knife on someone else in her dissociative state. Mal sank down on her knees next to her girlfriend. 

“It’s over now, E. It’s okay. I’m going to help you stop. Evie, baby, stop. It’s over.” She said, trying to keep the fear out of her voice. It wouldn’t help anyone if she was scared right now. She had all the time in the world to worry about Evie. 

The blue haired girl seemed to come back all at once. She was trembling, her hand shaking hard as she maintained her grip on the knife. Mal couldn’t see her face, so she scooted up, trying to get to her side. 

“I’m going to take the knife, baby. Let go.” She reached out to touch Evie’s hand, causing her to flinch immediately. Mal closed her eyes for a second and took a deep breath, then tried again. “It’s just me. It’s Mal, Princess. Let go of the knife.” 

She was relieved when Evie let go. Mal carefully pulled the knife out of her hand and held it wordlessly out to her side. Jay immediately came over and took it from her, allowing her to give her girl her full attention. 

Mal made sure Evie could see her as she reached her hands out towards her. Evie didn’t move closer, but her eyes did focus on Mal’s hands. She slowly put them on Evie’s hands, running them up her arms until she got closer to her shoulders. Then, she pulled her off of Grimhilde’s body and onto her lap. 

She had never felt Evie shake so hard. Her breathing was a mess, and her skin was clammy. Mal put a gentle hand on her head, trying not to irritate where her scalp was most likely sensitive from her mother’s hair pulling, and pushed her head down on her shoulder. 

Evie didn’t cry. She just sat there completely motionless, staring and shaking. Mal held her tighter. 

“Why don’t we take her inside?” Carlos said quietly as he came over on Evie’s other side. 

Mal knew Evie was mentally checked out and not registering anything that was happening. She nodded at Carlos’s statement and carefully stood, keeping Evie in her arms. 

“Wrap your legs around me.” She whispered. Evie followed her instructions, making it easier for Mal to support her weight. She carried her inside of Harry’s home and walked straight back until they were in the kitchen. Mal put her down on top of the counter and moved so she could stand between her legs. 

“M…” Evie whimpered. 

“I’m right here, my love.” She leaned in and kissed Evie’s cheek. “I’m not leaving you.” 

Evie wrapped her arms around her and Mal followed her lead, holding Evie around the waist. She heard the others come in, but tried her best to block their voices out. The only thing that mattered right now was getting Evie calm enough so that they could get back to Auradon. 

“Breathe, baby.” She instructed, slipping her fingers under Evie’s shirt and gently rubbing circles into her skin. It took a couple minutes, but Evie’s breathing finally evened out. 

“Ellie…” she whispered. 

“Uma has her. Everything is okay right now. Just keep breathing.” 

Mal wasn’t dumb enough to believe that everything would be okay for much longer. She had heard Carlos tell the others that EQ said one of Quinton’s men told her that Evie was here. That most likely meant that there was another person with Tristan earlier. This person would know that Mal had killed him, and they would tell Quinton. They needed to get to Auradon before they were attacked. 

“We need to go.” Jay said, perfectly voicing Mal’s thoughts. “It’s too dangerous for us to stay here any longer.” 

“What should we do with the body?” when she heard Harry’s voice, Mal couldn’t resist looking over at him. She wondered how he would react to his mother’s death, but he didn’t seem to be affected. 

“Throw it in the ocean.” Evie responded as she slid off the counter to stand. She reached down and laced her fingers with Mal, squeezing tightly. “Let’s go.” 

“We’re coming with you. Who knows what might go down.” Uma said, reaching over and grabbing her sword. 

“We appreciate it.” Evie said. Mal marveled at her girlfriend’s strength. She knew that she was far from okay, but she was pulling it together for now and Mal couldn’t be prouder. 

“I’ll lead, Carlos and Ben behind, then Evie and Mal, Jay and Harry take the back.” Uma ordered. Mal didn’t have it in her to argue as Uma passed Ellie to her and they filed out of the house. They stopped when they saw Grimhilde’s body. “Take care of that first.” 

Jay and Harry stepped forward, lifting her body and taking it over to the edge. They threw it down the cliff and into the raging waters below. 

“We move quick and quiet. I’ve got men stationed everywhere, and I haven’t heard about a disturbance, so things must be safe for now. We don’t know how long that will last so we need to hurry.” Uma reminded them. 

They got into their formation and started to move. Mal had Ellie asleep in her right arm and her left hand locked with Evie’s, trying to keep her girlfriend present and in the moment so that if they were attacked, she would be able to fight. 

Mal’s eyes landed on Ben and she wondered what he was thinking about all this. He was jumpy, eyes darting all around as if he was waiting for someone to jump out of the shadows and grab him. He kept looking back, probably making sure that they were all still there. Mal wondered what the consequence would be for Evie murdering her mother. 

Luckily, they were able to get back to the docks without any major issues. Mal was grateful because the closer they got to the limo, the more she could feel Evie struggling.

Uma turned to look at them, her eyes scanning over each member of the group. She looked at Evie, offering her a nod. “You’ve got this, Blue.” 

“Thank you for all you’ve done.” Mal responded. Evie was too out of it, and she knew she appreciated Mal stepping in when she saw her nod.

“Can I say goodbye?” Harry asked, gesturing towards his sister. Mal didn’t know how receptive her girl would be, but she wouldn’t take away his chance after what had just happened. Harry reached out to hug Evie and Mal could see how much she tensed up. He let go after a minute, holding Evie’s blood covered hand in his own. “You did the right thing, Eves.” 

Evie gave him a weak smile and a nod, then turned towards Mal. Her eyes were wide and unfocused, and Mal knew that was her way of silently pleading with her to end this. 

“We will be in touch as soon as we can.” Mal promised. “Our deal will still be honored.” 

“I really hope that’s true, Mal.” Uma started to walk, Harry following after her. 

Jay, Carlos, and Ben uncovered the limo as Mal held Ellie in one arm and Evie in the other. Evie’s face was buried in her neck and she kept her arm locked around her waist, hoping she was bringing her a little comfort. She had no idea how Evie was going to willingly give up Ellie when she was such an emotional wreck right now. She just hoped that there would be some way she could help Evie bounce back from this. 

\-----

If there was one thing that Ben could say after tonight, it was that the Isle kids needed more help than he could have ever anticipated. 

He wasn’t expecting to see the level of violence or pain that he did tonight. He could have never guessed that Uma and Harry would be told that they couldn’t come to Auradon after being promised it by Mal’s crew. He wouldn’t have ever in a million years thought that Evie’s mother would show up, or that a mother could speak to her child with such hatred. He definitely couldn’t have predicted having to watch Evie murder her mother.

He looked at the VKs walking around him. Uma was strong and confident, but he had seen the horrified look in her eyes as the Evil Queen verbally ripped Evie apart. Carlos had withdrawn into himself, and Ben couldn’t forget that comment about how he used to eat out of a dog bowl. Mal was determined, trying to take care of both Evie and Ellie at once. Evie wasn’t her usual self, and Ben couldn’t blame her for looking so broken. Jay was angry, his posture showing that he was ready to go after anyone who dared to get near his family, and probably regretting that he hadn’t been able to take on Evie’s battle for her. Harry was silent, but Ben could tell he was affected by this whole mess. 

As soon as they got into the limo, Evie collapsed against Mal. The purple haired girl was still holding Ellie, and she shifted her to make room for Evie too. The taller girl straddled her lap, her face buried in her neck and her hands gripping her tightly. 

“Do you want to hold Ellie?” Mal asked. 

Evie shook her head. “I’ll get her dirty.” Ben looked at her, seeing that her hands, arms, and clothes were covered in blood. There were even splatters of it on her face and neck. The sight made his stomach hurt. 

Carlos grabbed the first aid kit that had been stowed in the limo. He went over and sat next to Mal on the side Evie was on. He pulled out antiseptic wipes and Ben watched as he dabbed at the cut on her face, then wiped her neck where the knife had pierced her skin. 

“Is it bleeding?” Mal questioned. 

“No, it stopped. You’re okay, E.” he finished up and then went back over to his seat. 

Carlos and Jay were silent as they sat completely still across from the girls. The tension was glaringly obvious in the enclosed space. 

Mal was talking so softly that Ben couldn’t hear her, her words only meant for Evie’s ears. She ran her fingers gently through Evie’s long, blue hair, and Ben wondered if it hurt because of how much her mother had yanked her around by her hair. He didn’t know if he would ever get the image of Evie with a knife pressed to her throat out of his head. 

After a moment, Evie started to mumble back to Mal. Ben still couldn’t tell what they were saying, but he could tell Evie was getting agitated. Mal moved her hand to Evie’s back, trying to rub it to calm her down. 

“This is so fucked up. It’s not fair.” Evie said, finally speaking loud enough that everyone in the limo could hear. She sat up so that she could make eye contact with Mal. 

Mal looked past her, her eyes landing on Ben immediately. He tried to look away, as if that would make her believe he wasn’t listening to them. He hated that they were uncomfortable because of his presence. 

“E, not now.” She insisted. 

“No Mal, it’s bullshit!” Evie shouted, causing Carlos to flinch. “We made a promise. We said that we would take them off the Isle, and now they have to stay to protect all the other kids. _We_ are fucking kids! Why should we have to put other people’s wellbeing ahead of our own? Why should Uma and Harry have to stay there, where they will probably be attacked because of me, just so they can keep everyone else safe? They should get to be kids!” Her voice got louder with each word she spoke. “How is it fair that Chad, who is a fucking pig and a rapist, gets to have parents who love him and treat him with respect and give him more food than he could ever ask for, but other people have parents who sell them to the highest bidder? Why do we have parents who call us names because of who we love, and force us to throw up, and hold a knife to our neck?” 

Mal moved forward, trying to pull Evie closer. “Evie, baby, you need to stop. Calm down…”

“Don’t tell me to stop!” Evie yelled, her voice starting to sound choked up. Up until now, Ben hadn’t seen her cry tonight and he wondered if this would finally be her breaking point. “Don’t tell me that I’m not allowed to feel how I want to feel. Everyone always wants to make my choices for me. What about what I want? Why can’t I be in control of my own life for once?” tears poured down her cheeks as her voice broke. “What did I ever do, Mal? I didn’t ask to be born. I wouldn’t even ask for her to love me because I know that’s impossible, but why couldn’t she stop hurting me?” 

Then, Evie lost it. Ben felt his eyes widen as he watched Evie fall apart. He had never seen someone cry as hard as she was right now, her entire body shaking from the force of her sobs. 

Jay instantly moved forward, reaching out towards Mal to take Ellie. As soon as Mal’s hands were free, she pulled Evie back onto her lap and let her bury her face in her neck. 

“I love you, it’s okay, you’re safe.” Mal whispered over and over again. Ben could still hear Evie cries, but he knew Mal was doing the only thing she could to try and calm her down. 

Ben’s eyes drifted over towards Jay, who had shifted Ellie in his arms so she could rest her head on his shoulder. Her face was turned towards Ben, and as he looked back and forth between Ellie and Jay, he noticed they looked nothing alike. Knowing what he knew now about Evie’s past, he didn’t think there was any possibility that Ellie was Jay’s. But also with what he knew now, he understood why they wouldn’t have wanted to bring up what Evie had been through with his parents. As long as they wanted to keep that a secret, Ben would honor their wishes. 

He didn’t think there was anything he wouldn’t do for them after what they had been through.


	32. One Last Night

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm going to be going back to updating once a week. I'm really struggling with staying inspired to write this story, and I really want to finish it, but it has been so hard to stay motivated. This is the last full chapter I have written; I wrote all of the Isle ones and this one in 2-3 days, but I've been working on chapter 33 for two weeks now and it's been difficult to write. 
> 
> Please feel free to tell me if there's something specific you want to see or any other ideas you have. Maybe reading your perspectives will help me get some inspiration!

_Mal couldn’t believe that the baby was here. After hours of labor and having to hold a hand over Evie’s mouth while she screamed in pain, she never would have thought things would settle down so quickly. Mal had been scared to move Evie off of the floor on her own because she didn’t want to push her too soon, so they were still on the floor of the living area._

_Mal’s legs were spread with Evie between them, her weight resting almost entirely on her girlfriend. She was holding her newborn in her arms. Evie was completely naked, covered only by a blanket, and still drenched in sweat. Mal could practically feel her exhaustion, but yet, Evie was still putting her child first._

_“You’ve got this, baby. Remember, we read that it can take a little while. She’ll get it.” Mal kissed her temple._

_Evie adjusted the way she was holding Gabriella, trying to get her to latch on. Finally, after a few tries, Evie let out a tiny noise._

_“Are you okay?” Mal questioned._

_“She’s doing it!” Evie announced, her smile blinding. It had been so long since Mal saw her smile like that._

_“You know, I don’t think I have ever loved you more than I do right now.” Mal informed her._

_Evie rolled her eyes. “I look disgusting.”_

_“You look like someone who just fought as hard as you could to bring a little life into this world. You are so brave, baby girl.” She kissed her sweaty forehead. “I love you so much.”_

_“I love you too.” Evie replied._

_They were quiet for a few moments, just listening to the sound of baby Gabriella suckling at Evie’s breast. Mal could feel Evie starting to tense up._

_“What’s wrong?”_

_“How am I supposed to do this, M?” Evie asked, her voice sounding a little choked up. “How do I raise her when I can’t even leave the hideout without risking running into my mother or Quinton?”_

_Mal wished she could just get rid of both of them. She would love to murder them slowly with her bare hands, making them suffer for every time they even thought about hurting her girlfriend._

_“We’re going to find a way. You’re not alone in this, E. You have me, Carlos, and Jay to help you. We will come up with a way to make things safe so that you and Gabriella can leave.”_

_Evie bit down on her lip and sighed. Mal knew that whatever she was about to say next had been on her mind for a while, and she seemed to be pretty anxious about it._

_“What if I can’t love her?”_

_Mal couldn’t believe that was even a doubt that Evie had in her mind. She had worked so hard throughout her pregnancy, and even during her labor. Even the way she was carefully holding the baby now showed how much she loved her._

_“Baby, it’s already obvious how much you love her. You have fought so hard to bring her into this world and you have completely changed your life for her. I know how hard it has been for you to be trapped in the hideout, but you did that for her. I know you dreaded every single meal for the past nine months, but you ate for her. I know you couldn’t stand getting up to puke constantly, or not being able to sleep, or the body aches, but you dealt with it and hardly complained for her. You laid on the floor and gave birth almost completely on your own with people fighting outside and my hand over your mouth. You have done so much for her already, Evie. You are already an amazing mother.”_

_“I don’t want to be like my mother.”_

_“Listen to me.” Mal grabbed her chin gently, tilting her face so they could make eye contact. “This little girl was born from horrible circumstances, but she deserves all the love in the world and I have no doubt you’ll give it to her.”_

_Evie sighed. “Mal, I need you to make me a promise.”_

_“Anything.” Mal responded immediately._

_“If I ever start to hurt her or mistreat her in any way, I want you to kill me. Just take her away from me and kill me.”_

_Mal instantly shook her head. “You can’t ask me to do that.”_

_“I’m asking anyway.”_

_“I don’t care what happens. There is no way I could ever hurt you, Evie.”_

_“I can’t be my mother.” Evie whispered. “I can’t hurt her.”_

_“You won’t.” Mal promised._

_“How do you know?”_

_“Because you’re always going to have me right by your side to help you out. We are going to raise Gabriella together. I want you to listen to me right now and hear what I’m saying to you, okay?” Evie nodded and Mal made sure to look directly into her beautiful brown eyes. “I am here as long as you want me. I gave you my heart so many years ago, and this baby doesn’t change that. I’m with you in this, one hundred percent, okay?”_

_“I can’t ask you to do that. It’s too much.”_

_“You’re not asking. I cannot exist in a world without you, baby. I will always be here for you, no matter what. If you let me, I want to be here for Gabriella too.”_

_Evie’s eyes filled with tears. “Are you sure?”_

_“We may not have planned her, but we were always going to start a family, right? It’s just starting a little earlier and in a different way than we thought.” Mal kissed her forehead. “But from now on, the only thing that matters is us, okay? You, me, and Ellie.”_

_“You, me, and Ellie.” Evie whispered in agreement. She leaned up so she could kiss Mal’s lips, wincing slightly._

_“We need to get you off the floor.” Mal kissed her again. “Carlos?” she called out. The boys had gone to the room they shared, giving them some privacy, but the younger boy ran out right away._

_“Everything okay?”_

_“Yeah. Can you help me get E cleaned up?”_

_Mal tried to stand, but Evie grabbed her arm, clinging to her. “Nooo, you can’t move. You’re too comfy.”_

_Carlos laughed. “Stay where you are, I’ve got this.”_

_Mal stayed up by Evie’s head, holding her exhausted girlfriend against her chest while Carlos cleaned up her lower half as best as he could. Mal just ran her fingers through Evie’s hair, seeing her eyes droop more and more as time passed._

_As soon as Evie was cleaned off, Jay brought her some clean clothes. Carlos slipped Evie’s underwear on (which had been specially designed by Evie for after giving birth) and then some sweatpants, and then Jay scooped her up (baby still in her arms) and carried her into the girls’ bedroom._

_“M.” Evie said, reaching her hand out towards her girlfriend. After what she had just been through, Mal couldn’t deny her anything. She climbed into bed beside her and Evie immediately rested her head on her shoulder._

_“Can I take her for a minute, E? I want to get her cleaned up and put a diaper on her.” Carlos said softly._

_“Mmhmm.” Evie didn’t object as Carlos came over and lifted the baby (it would take Mal a while to get used to calling her Gabriella) off of Evie’s chest._

_Evie leaned in closer to Mal, tilting her head up towards her and pouting her lips slightly. Mal pressed a gentle kiss against her lips._

_“You’re so amazing, you know that?” Mal kissed her again. “I’m so proud of you, Princess.”_

_Evie smiled sleepily and Mal wondered how she was even still awake. She knew the baby would wake her up in a few hours and she already felt exhausted knowing that they wouldn’t be sleeping through the night anymore._

_Carlos returned a moment later with Ellie in his arms. He had put a diaper on her and wrapped her up in one of the baby blankets Evie made. He was carrying two thick onesies in his arms._

_“I wasn’t sure which one you would want to put her in.” he put both on the bed. One was white with different colored polka dots and one was dark blue._

_“Let me guess. The blue?” Mal said, looking at Evie. She smiled and nodded her head. “Can I get her dressed?” Mal hadn’t gotten to hold the baby yet and she was a little nervous about it._

_Evie immediately nodded. “You don’t have to ask, M.”_

_Carlos smiled as he looked at Mal, obviously seeing she was nervous. He shifted Ellie carefully into her arms. “Make sure you support her head and neck.”_

_“Got it.” Mal held the tiny baby in her arms and instantly, she was overwhelmed with love. She couldn’t believe that this child was a little piece of the love of her life. “Hi there, little princess. I’m going to get you dressed, okay?” she laid her down on the bed and carefully maneuvered her arms and legs into the onesie, then zipped it up. She picked up the baby again, making sure she was gentle._

_When Mal looked back at Evie, she was surprised to see that she was crying. She went into panic mode._

_“What’s wrong? Are you in pain? Are you okay?”_

_Evie sniffled, wiping at her eyes. “Thank you.” She sobbed._

_“For what?”_

_“For loving me despite all the fucked up shit that has happened. For encouraging me to not get rid of the pregnancy. For helping me every step along the way. For already showing me how much you love my child.”_

_“She’s part of you. How could I not love her?” Mal said simply. Evie started to cry even harder, making Carlos and Jay smile. Mal leaned in and wrapped one arm around Evie, keeping the other secured around Ellie. “Like I said earlier, you’ve got me forever, Pretty Girl.”_

_“Me too.” Jay added._

_“Yep.” Carlos agreed._

_“Thank you.” Evie whimpered. “I love you guys.”_

_The four of them sat on the bed together, baby Ellie still in Mal’s arms. They all stared down at the newest member of their little family._

_“She looks just like you, E.” Jay said. “Normally babies look like little blobs, but she’s your twin.”_

_“You think?” Evie asked from where she was leaned into Mal’s side, her eyes hardly open anymore but a content smile on her face._

_“I think her hair will turn blue when she’s older.” Carlos mused. “It’s so dark right now, almost like it has a blue tint to it. Was your hair like that as a baby?”_

_“No, I think it was blue right away.” Evie answered through a yawn. “Maybe her hair will just be a darker blue than mine.”_

_“She has all your features.” Mal pointed out. “Long eyelashes, perfect little nose, full lips, dimpled chin.” She traced a finger down Ellie’s cheek. “She even has your ears.”_

_“I never thought I would say this, but she’s perfect.” Evie agreed._

_“Like mother, like daughter.” Mal said, kissing Evie’s cheek. She could see that she was fighting sleep. “I think it’s time for you to get some rest, baby. Ellie’s going to be up and wanting to eat in a few hours so you need to sleep while you can.”_

_Evie snuggled further into Mal. “You guys will all stay here?”_

_“We’ll be right here.” Jay promised._

_“Do you want her back?” Mal asked._

_“Mmhmm.” Evie reached out, taking Ellie back into her arms. She turned, grimacing at her discomfort as she rolled onto her side. She put Ellie on the bed next to her and wrapped her in her arms. Mal scooted up right behind her, putting an arm around Evie’s waist. She kissed the back of her neck._

_“Close those beautiful eyes, baby.” Mal whispered. “She’ll still be here when you wake up.”_

_It didn’t take long for Evie to fall asleep, and for the first time in a while, she slept with a smile on her face._

\-----

“We’re here, baby.” Mal said quietly. Evie didn’t react, instead choosing to bury her face further in Mal’s neck. She was exhausted, scared, and hurting. She didn’t want to be in Auradon yet. She hadn’t even gotten to hold Ellie because of the blood that was caked onto her skin. 

Evie sat up as she realized that in a few minutes, Ben would be taking her daughter away. She couldn’t lose her yet. She didn’t get to say goodbye. 

“Please, Ben.” She turned to face the boy. He looked at her, and for once, he didn’t have that stupid smile on his face. “You can’t take her away.”

He sighed. “Evie…”

“Just give me tonight. I barely even got to spend time with her. Please just give me tonight. Tomorrow you can take her to her new family and tell your parents what I did. I just need one night.”

Evie felt Mal kiss her head, her arms tightening around her. She glanced over at where Carlos and Jay were sitting, seeing that the latter was holding onto Ellie and didn’t look like he would be letting go anytime soon. 

“Okay.” Ben agreed. 

Carlos opened up the limo door and climbed out. Jay followed him, and then Mal nudged Evie towards the door. She got out of the car, her arms aching to hold her daughter but knowing that she couldn’t get her dirty. She didn’t want her daughter to be as disgusting as her. 

Mal got out next, instantly coming to stand at Evie’s side. What if this was her last night with her girlfriend too? After Ben’s parents found out she murdered her mother, they would definitely send her back to the Isle. At the time tomorrow, she might be alone and back where it all started. 

“We’ll talk to you tomorrow.” Mal said to Ben. She wrapped an arm around Evie’s waist and guided her towards the dorms. Evie could hear Jay and Carlos behind them. 

The walk to the girls’ dorm was quiet. Everyone seemed to be trapped in their own heads. Evie’s mind was racing, trying to figure out what her next move should be. How could she keep Ellie safe? How could she stay with Mal? 

As soon as they walked into the room, Evie froze. She didn’t even know what to do first. 

“Come on, baby.” Mal reached down for her hand. “You guys good to stay with Ellie?”

“We got her.” Jay confirmed. 

Mal pulled her into the bathroom and immediately turned on the shower. Evie stood completely still as her girlfriend turned to face her. 

“A lot has happened tonight.” She said, leaning in to press their foreheads together. “We’re going to get through this, Evie.” 

Evie burst into tears. There were so many emotions swirling through her and she didn’t know what to deal with first. They had returned to the Isle, she was confronted by one of Q’s guys, Mal had to kill him, she saw Uma and Harry again, she found out Ellie was safe, was held at knife point and degraded by her mother, murdered her mother, exploded on everyone in the limo, and now in the morning she would have to give Ellie away and face the consequences of her actions. 

“Shhh, it’s okay, baby.” Mal started to strip her out of her clothes. “You’re gonna be okay.” She undressed herself and then they got into the shower. 

Mal wrapped Evie in her arms, letting the blue haired girl sob into her neck. Evie stared at the shower floor, watching the blood rinse off of her body and swirl down the drain. It made her feel sick. 

“I’m here, E. I’ve got you.” Mal ran her fingers up and down her back. 

Evie just leaned further into her. If this was her last night with Mal, then she would make the most of it. She accepted the comfort the purple haired girl had to offer her. 

Mal ended up sitting on the shower floor with Evie on her lap. She reached up, grabbing the blue bottle and squirting some strawberry shampoo into Evie’s hair. Evie sat there and cried as Mal washed her hair for her, then scrubbed all of the blood, dirt, and sweat off of her body. She wanted to speak, but she couldn’t stop crying long enough to think of something to say. 

“I know, my love. You’re okay. I’m here.” Mal held Evie under the spray of the shower until the water finally got cold. Then, she helped her stand up and turned the water off. Mal grabbed their towels, wrapping Evie’s around her carefully, then drying off with her own towel. 

“Are you ready to go get dressed?” Mal asked, reaching up and stroking Evie’s cheek. 

Evie’s chest heaved as she tried to suck in a breath and end her crying, but she couldn’t. She just nodded her head. Mal kissed her forehead, then led the way back into the bedroom. 

Carlos and Jay looked up as soon as they came in, both of their eyes focusing on Evie. She could feel their stares, but she was past the point of being embarrassed in front of them. It was the weirdest feeling not being able to control her emotions, but she couldn’t stop crying. 

“Come here, baby.” Mal called out. Evie walked over to the closet, seeing that Mal was waiting with clothes. She had already pulled on a t-shirt and a pair of pajama pants, and she handed Evie her favorite purple sweatshirt of Mal’s and underwear. “Listen to me, Pretty Girl. Close your eyes and try to take some deep breaths, okay? Close your eyes.” 

Evie let her eyes shut as Mal put their foreheads together. Evie did her best to suck in a deep breath, then let it out slowly. Her breathing calmed down after a few minutes, but there were still tears falling. 

“Good job, baby. You’re breathing a little better now. I know that has to make your chest feel better.” Mal kissed her cheek, then her lips. “I’m going to help you get dressed, okay?”

Mal removed Evie’s towel and carefully dried her off with it. Evie felt overwhelmed with emotion again from how gentle Mal was being with her. If there was one thing in this world she would never doubt, it was Mal’s love for her. 

“I’m sorry.” Evie whimpered. 

“There’s nothing to be sorry for.” Mal reassured her. She slid the sweater over her head, then leaned down so Evie could step into the underwear she was holding out. “Let’s go lay down. You’re still really worked up and I need you to calm down.” 

“But Mal…”

“No buts.” Mal lifted her up. Evie instinctually wrapped her legs around her waist, letting her carry her over to their bed. Mal laid her down, then crawled under the covers next to her. 

Hours passed as Mal held Evie tightly, rocking her from side to side as the taller girl cried her eyes out. Evie’s throat felt completely raw and her eyes hurt, but she couldn’t stop. Every time she shut her eyes, she saw her mother or heard her voice. She couldn’t get her out of her head. 

Her mother was right. She _does_ own her. 

That thought made Evie’s breath catch in her throat and suddenly, she couldn’t breathe anymore. Mal forced her into a sitting position. 

“Breathe, Evie.” She encouraged, rubbing her back. Evie just stared at her, her breaths coming out in pants. 

“I…killed…her…” she gasped out 

“Shhh, eyes on me.” Mal said. “Just keep looking at me, my Princess. Focus on the air coming in and out of your body. Big breath through your nose, then let it out slowly through your mouth. You can do this, E.” 

Evie followed Mal’s directions, trying to focus only on her voice and her breathing. It felt like it took forever, but she finally felt like she could breathe again. She collapsed against Mal, burying her face in her neck. 

“Let’s lay down.” Mal suggested, scooting down until they were laying. She started to run her fingers through Evie’s hair with one hand and rubbed her back with the other, peppering kisses against her hair and forehead. 

Normally, Evie would fall asleep pretty quickly from this. It did help her stop crying, but her mind was still racing. She couldn’t just go to sleep. She knew she would have nightmares, and she wanted to avoid that for as long as possible. She had to stay awake. 

“Is she asleep?” Carlos asked after a little while. 

“No.” Mal responded, giving Evie another kiss on the forehead. “Baby, stop fighting it. You need to get some rest.” 

“I don’t wanna sleep.” Evie refused. 

“I know, but it will help you forget for a little while. You need a break.” 

Evie shook her head. “I’m not tired.” 

Mal gave her a look. “I can see how tired you are. Please just try.” 

Evie’s tears had finally stopped, but then she remembered what was happening. This was the last night she would have with her daughter. 

Suddenly, tears filled her eyes again. It only took a few seconds for them to spill over. 

“Hey, baby girl, don’t do this again. You need to stay calm or you’re going to have another panic attack.” Mal wrapped her tight in her arms, pulling her against her chest. She kissed Evie’s forehead and let her lips stay there for a few moments. “Please baby.” 

“I want Ellie.” Evie whimpered. “Please, M. I need my baby while she’s still mine.”

“You need to calm down first. Remember, babies feed off of emotions. If you’re freaking out, you’re going to freak Ellie out.” 

Evie nodded her head. She could calm down for her daughter. She let her eyes shut and buried her face in Mal’s neck again, focusing only on her scent and the feeling of her arms around her. Finally, her heartbeat slowed down to normal and she didn’t feel like she was going to cry. She pulled away, making eye contact with her girlfriend. 

Mal slid out of bed and went over to the other bed. Jay and Carlos were sitting side by side with Ellie still passed out on Jay’s chest. Miraculously, she had stayed asleep this entire night and Evie was grateful that she hadn’t witnessed everything that had happened. Mal leaned down to pick Ellie up and Jay handed her over with no hesitation. 

“I’m gonna shower.” Jay said. 

“I’ll run back to our dorm and grab some clothes.” Carlos agreed, and then both the boys went to finish their tasks, leaving just the three girls together. 

Mal carried Ellie over to their bed and laid her carefully on Evie’s chest. Evie let her eyes shut as she tried to memorize the weight of her daughter. She was a little heavier than last time they saw her, but still tiny. Evie could tell she had grown. 

“Hey sweet girl.” Evie whispered, running her fingertips through Ellie’s dark hair. When the light hit certain strands, she could see the blue tint. “Mama’s got you. You’re going to be safe now.” 

Mal laid back down and instantly pulled Evie over to her, letting her lean against her. Mal reached over and stroked Ellie’s cheek. 

“She looks good.” Mal said. 

“Yeah. Uma and Harry took good care of her.” Evie agreed. She tilted her head back so she could look at Mal. “I meant what I said. You need to find a way to bring them to Auradon.” 

Mal nodded. “We’ll do that together.” 

Evie didn’t say anything. She didn’t want to ruin the moment and bring up the fact that in a few hours, she would probably be thrown back on the Isle. Her mind kept going back to the conversation that she and Mal had before they went to the Isle where Mal said she would be broken when they gave Ellie away. Evie hoped she found some way to be happy after she lost both of them. 

It was ironic to Evie that in order to save Ellie from the Isle, she ended up having to do something that would force her to be on the Isle instead. She knew that it had to happen; she didn’t have any choice but to kill her mother. But she really, really hated that she was going to be taken away from both of the people she loved most in the world. 

“They won’t take you away from me.” Mal said, interrupting Evie’s thoughts. Evie swore she could read her mind. 

“M…”

“I’m serious. If they try to put you on the Isle, then I’m going to tell them that I killed Tristan.” 

Evie shook her head. “You can’t do that.” 

“If we’re going to lose Ellie, then I’m not losing you too. There’s nothing that you could say to stop me from doing it. I’ll confess and we’ll be sent back to the Isle together, and then I’ll kill Quinton.”

Evie laughed dryly. “Isn’t it funny?” 

“What?”

“It’s almost like all of this was for nothing. What’s the point of Ellie being in Auradon if we’re both going to be on the Isle? My mother is gone, so that’s one threat that was eliminated. We’ll have to take out Quinton, and I bet we could get Uma’s crew to help. Maybe we would have a chance at killing your mother. But after all that, the Isle would almost be safe enough for Ellie to have just stayed there.” Evie turned towards her. “I’m just saying, maybe the best thing to do all along was to just kill the bad people on the Isle and then stay there.”

“You can’t think like that.” Mal told her. “No matter what, the Isle is shitty. Ellie would grow up with no food, no medicine if she was to get sick, limited education, and she wouldn’t be safe. Even if we took out the current threats, more would come up. Being in Auradon is the best thing for all of us.” 

“Including Uma and Harry, and Gil, Dizzy, and Celia, and so many other kids. It’ll be up to you to bring them here.”

“We’ll both bring them here.” Mal corrected. “Or else Jay and Carlos will. I’m not leaving you.” 

Evie leaned up, pressing a kiss against Mal’s lips. “I won’t let you sacrifice yourself for me.” 

Mal gave her a kiss. “It’s not your choice to make.” 

Evie felt a tiny hand grip her shirt and she looked down, seeing that Ellie was starting to move around. Her eyes fluttered open and she seemed confused for a second. 

Then, all of a sudden, she lifted her head up and saw her mother. Evie had never felt her heart swell as much as when Ellie’s eyes lit up. 

“Mama!” 

Evie gasped in surprise. When she left the Isle, Ellie could do the typical baby babbling, but she wasn’t saying words. Evie thought maybe she was still just babbling and making noises, but then Ellie reached out and touched her face. 

“Mama!” she said again. 

“It’s me, baby.” Evie sat up, moving Ellie to her lap. “It’s Mama.” 

Ellie giggled loudly, her nose scrunching up as she smiled. She just kept reaching out and touching Evie’s face. 

“She knows me.” Evie whispered, her voice starting to get a little choked up. 

“Of course she knows you.” Mal said as if it was the most obvious thing in the world. “You’re her mom.” 

When Ellie heard Mal’s voice, she looked towards her. She kept the smile on her face as she reached out a hand towards her. Mal scooted over and leaned in close so Ellie could touch her. 

“Can I tell you something?” Mal asked. 

“Anything.” Evie said. 

“The day before we had Jay take Ellie to Uma and Harry, I drew a picture of you. I put it in her bag and asked Jay to make sure they put the picture where Ellie could see it. I wanted them to talk to her about you.” 

Evie’s eyes filled with tears at Mal’s thoughtfulness. She gave her a kiss. “I love you.” 

Mal smiled and stroked her cheek. “Love you more.” 

Evie glanced over at the clock, seeing that it was already after three o’clock in the morning. She knew Ellie probably shouldn’t be awake right now, but she didn’t want to put her back to sleep when she knew she would have to go away soon. 

That’s when Evie’s heart broke a little more. Ellie remembered her and was calling her Mama, and it was obvious that she remembered Mal. How could they possibly give her away?   
She didn’t even realize she was crying until Mal wiped the tears off her face. “What’s wrong, baby girl?” 

“She knows us.” Evie whimpered. “She knows us and now we’re going to have to give her away.” 

Mal pulled them both into her arms, hugging them close. Ellie didn’t even wiggle, instead choosing to lean against Evie and let out a content sigh. It made her cry even harder. 

Carlos walked in the door a moment later, obviously freshly showered and in new clothes. He took some clothes into the bathroom for Jay, then came over and sat on the end of the girls’ bed. 

“You guys good?” 

Mal kissed Evie’s forehead. “Stay calm for her, remember?” 

Evie nodded her head. “M, can you go find some kind of snack for her? She’s probably hungry.” 

Mal kissed Evie’s cheek, then Ellie’s. “I’ll be right back.” She left the room. 

Carlos scooted up, taking Mal’s spot and laying down next to Evie. “You can talk to me, you know.” 

“Will you promise me something?” Evie asked as she ran her fingers through Ellie’s hair. Carlos nodded. “Will you take care of her? After they send Ellie away and put me back on the Isle, you have to take care of Mal for me.” 

Carlos shook his head. “They’re not going to put you on the Isle.” 

“Just take care of Mal, Carlos. Please.” 

“I’m sorry, but I can’t do that. If they send you to the Isle, they’re going to have to send all of us back.” 

“I can’t let you guys do that. You all deserve to be safe.” 

“We’re a family, E. If you go back, we’re all going back.” Carlos reached over her to rub her back. “We’ll figure this out.” 

“Mama.” Ellie said again, interrupting their conversation. 

Carlos’s eyes widened. “Did she just…”

Evie couldn’t help but smile. “Yeah, she calls me Mama. Mal told me that she drew a picture of me for Uma to show to Ellie. They must have because I don’t know how else such a little baby would remember me after not seeing me for almost two months.” 

“The two of you are connected. She grew inside of you; of course she knows you.” 

Evie kissed Ellie’s forehead. “I want to keep her forever.”

Carlos smiled sadly. “I know.” 

Mal returned a few moments later with some applesauce. Jay got out of the shower right after, and the four of them sat on the floor. Evie held Ellie on her lap as the others took turns feeding her. Evie was happy to see that she was completely comfortable around all four of them. 

As they sat there together, singing songs and playing peek-a-boo, Evie started to get more and more upset. There was absolutely no way she could give her daughter away. 

Now, she just needed to figure out what they needed to do so she could keep her.


	33. Trust

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Thank you all for your amazing comments on the last chapter! Everyone was so supportive, and you guys definitely delivered with the suggestions! I'm still struggling, but knowing so many people love this story and want to see more of it is helping. Here is the general idea I got from the comments:   
> -More FG/FG's thoughts on Evie and the baby  
> -Ben's feelings about what he saw on the Isle  
> -A Mal breakdown   
> -Aftermath of Harry and Uma being left on the Isle  
> -People really want Evie to keep Ellie 
> 
> Some of those things will be addressed in this chapter, and the rest will be in the next chapter. I'm going to try to fit in Maleficent finding out Mal was on the Isle too whenever I can. If you can think of anything else, please tell me! You have no idea how helpful your ideas were! (Also, I have no idea how to write Harry's accent, so I'm just going to write him normal haha.)
> 
> After this chapter, updates will go back to being just on the weekends.

“Well that was a shitshow.” Uma said as she lifted herself up to sit on the kitchen counter at Harry’s house (technically, it was his dad’s, but the old drunk hardly ever came home). She hadn’t even known Evie and the others were coming tonight, so this definitely wasn’t how she planned her night would go. She looked up at her first mate and could see that he was exhausted. “You good?” 

Harry seemed surprised that she asked, but he just gave her a small smile. “I’m fine.” 

“Really? Because you don’t look fine.” Uma slid off the counter and walked over to him. He was taller than her, but what she lacked in height she definitely made up for in presence. “Talk to me, Harry.” 

“What do you want me to say, Uma?” he sighed. “The woman who gave birth to me is dead. My sister was nearly murdered. My niece is gone. We’re not going to Auradon.” 

Uma nodded in agreement. She was trying not to be pissed about that last detail, but it still hurt. If there was anyone she had faith in (outside of her own crew), it was Blue. She had to believe that Evie would follow through on her promise. 

“Are you upset that Evie killed her?” Uma couldn’t help but ask. She knew it wasn’t exactly a tactful way to phrase it, but she had never been good with words. 

Harry shook his head. “I couldn’t care less that the bitch is dead. She deserved it after everything she’s done. She gave me away like I meant nothing, and somehow that is a way better deal than what Evie got. We may not have been raised together, but she’s my family. She didn’t deserve to be sold like some kind of possession.” 

The thought of that made Uma’s skin crawl. After they had found Evie bloody and bruised in that alley, she hadn’t slept for a week. It still made her sick to her stomach to imagine what the other girl had been through. 

“Agreed.” Uma said. “Are you upset that Evie was the one to do it?” 

She could see that she had guessed right when Harry avoided eye contact. “I know that she’ll take it hard. If there was anyone who had the right to kill her, it was Evie. But she’s not cold like the rest of us. Everyone knows it; she’s the best person on this goddamn island. She shouldn’t have to murder anyone.” 

Uma didn’t argue. Even when they were kids, Evie was special. She had saved Uma’s ass more than once, even though they were in opposite crews. The Isle Princess was definitely the best person Uma had ever met. 

“I’m such a fuck up.” Harry suddenly spat, starting to pace. “I should have helped her. We all just stood there like fucking idiots while the bitch threatened her and tore her apart!” 

“There’s nothing we could do, Harry.” Uma tried to reassure him, but he wasn’t listen. She grabbed his arm the next time he walked by her. “Hey! Listen to me. If someone could have helped Evie without her getting hurt, don’t you think Mal would have been the first one over there? Mal may be a heartless bitch, but she loves Evie and even she hung back. If any of us would have moved, EQ would have slit her throat. You had to protect Ellie.” 

“Ellie.” Harry repeated. She walked over to the table where one of her little socks was still sitting. He picked it up. “Evie is sixteen, Uma.” 

“Yeah…” Uma said, hoping he would explain. She wasn’t following his train of thought. When Harry got upset, he tended to ramble and speak out of order. Uma had gotten pretty good at deciphering, but sometimes even she couldn’t figure him out. 

“She’s sixteen with a baby. Do you really think those prissy princesses are going to let her keep Ellie?” 

Uma shook her head instantly. “They won’t take her away, Harry. Mal and Evie won’t let that happen.” 

“They’re not going to have a choice. What the people in Auradon say is the law; we should know that better than anyone.” He closed his hand in a fist, holding the little sock tightly between his fingers. “I swear that if they think they’re going to take Ellie away, they have no idea who they’re dealing with. I will break through that barrier and slaughter every last one of them.” 

Uma went to him, putting a calming hand on his shoulder. The last thing they needed was for Harry to break out into one of his rages. “Hey, listen to me. If there’s one thing in this world I know, it’s that Mal, Jay, and Carlos will make sure Evie and Ellie are safe. You don’t need to worry about that.” She swiped her fingers across his forehead, trying to push the dark hair out of his eyes. “Calm down, okay?” 

Right after she said it, the front door busted open and Gil came rushing in. He was breathing heavily as if he had just run. Uma and Harry were on their feet and in front of him immediately. 

“Quinton’s crew is approaching the ship. We’ve gotta go now!” Gil shouted before turning back to the door. 

Uma cracked her neck and took a deep breath. Now, it was time to deal with the aftermath. 

\-----

Ever since he had gotten into the limo to return to Auradon, Ben’s heart had been racing. This whole night had forever changed his view on the VKs, and on the Isle of the Lost. 

Before, he had wanted to remove the kids from the island. But now? Now he needed to get them off. He needed all of those innocent children to be saved before they ended up like Evie and Mal and Carlos and Jay. He never wanted to see someone hurting as bad as Evie was when she was crying on Mal’s lap in the limo ever again.

He charged into his castle, not caring that it was after midnight and his parents were probably sleeping. He hadn’t informed them that he was going to the Isle. He knew they would object, but he refused to be kept in the dark anymore about the most secretive territory of his future kingdom. His parents thought he had gone to see Audrey, so he wasn’t anticipating to see his mother sitting in her study. She was reading a book from the glow of a candle, and when she saw him, she smiled. 

“Hi Ben.” She tilted her head to the side slightly. “Did you have a nice night with Audrey?” 

Ben walked slowly into the room, keeping his eyes on the carpet. “I wasn’t with Audrey.” 

“I know.” Belle said softly. “Come and sit with me.” 

Ben went over and sat in the chair next to hers. He looked around the giant study; that study was probably the size of Harry’s entire house. His eyes landed on the wall to floor bookcases, and he thought back to his childhood.

When he was little, Ben would run into his mother’s study. She had a special bookcase full of books just for him, and she would let him pull whichever one he wanted off of the shelf. Then, they would go sit on the window seat and Belle would read to him while he alternated looking at her and at the beautiful view of the gardens. 

Did the kids on the Isle have books? Could they sit by their window without being in danger? Did any of them have mothers who took the time to read to them? What was their version of a beautiful view? 

“I don’t think I can be king.” Ben blurted out all of a sudden. He waited for his mother to respond, but he only heard silence. He looked up at her and saw that she was just watching him. “Aren’t you going to say something?” 

“Why don’t you feel like you can be king?” Belle asked. 

The tears started to fall out of nowhere. Ben couldn’t remember the last time he cried- was it after he dropped the VKs off at their dorm when Chad had attacked Evie at the party? Once he started crying, he couldn’t stop. 

“Ben, it’s okay.” His mother stood, wrapping her arms around him. He leaned into her and hugged her back, feeling his body shake from the force of his sobs. “Talk to me, sweetie.” 

“I don’t even know where to start with helping them.” 

“The kids from the Isle?” Belle clarified. Ben nodded. “Why don’t you tell me about them? Maybe I can help.” 

“I just feel like we’re too late.” Ben admitted, the tears starting to fall harder. “Carlos is so jumpy. Even after being here for almost two months, he hasn’t really calmed down. He gets nervous when people are too loud, and I can’t forget that when they first got here, Dr. Williams told me he thought that he was abused. After what I saw tonight, I would guarantee that they were all abused in some way. 

“Jay tries so hard to act carefree, but he was so different on the Isle. I’ve gotten so used to seeing him smile and laugh at Tourney practice, but he frowned the entire time we were there. He’s their protector, and I can’t even imagine how much pressure has been put on him because of that. He should be using his strength to play sports, not to fight off people who attack his friends. 

“And Mal…” Ben paused for a second to sniffle. “It’s so obvious that Mal is their leader. Did you know that she runs an entire crew? She told me that the adults are in power, with her mother having the most territory, but there are kids there who are running crews and fighting for their parents. They’ve gone to war with these other teenagers, and Mal has had to guide them through it or face the consequences from her mother. Then on top of that, she has Evie.” 

“What do you mean she has Evie?” Belle asked, stroking a hand through his hair. 

Ben’s face crumbled again as he thought about the Isle Princess. “I don’t even know where to start with her. I learned so much about her tonight and I don’t know what to do. She needs help, Mom.” 

“What kind of help?” 

“She struggles with food. I already knew this before tonight, and I had talked to Fairy Godmother about it. The VKs all go to weekly therapy sessions, and FG and Dr. Bren have been helping Evie deal with her eating disorder. But it goes so much further than that.” He looked up at Belle, wondering if he should say the next part. At this point, he was out of his range of abilities. He had no idea what to do, and he thought his mom could help. “If I talk to you about this, you have to promise not to tell Dad.” 

Belle nodded. “This conversation can stay between us.” 

“I met the Evil Queen tonight.” 

Ben could see the concern on his mother’s face grow, but she didn’t seem angry. His father would have been shouting, demanding that he give him information about her right now and then sending over some guards to take care of the issue. Ben was grateful that his mother just gave him a small smile, silently telling him to continue. 

“She is a horrible person.” Ben was still haunted by the terrified expression on Evie’s face. Every time he closed his eyes, he saw Jay’s clenched fists, Carlos’s tensed up shoulders, Uma and Harry clinging to Ellie, Mal’s eyes glued to Evie, and Evie with that knife against her throat. They had talked about it with such indifference, as if this was normal. 

“I think the reason Evie struggles with food is because of her mom.” Ben informed his mother. “She kept saying that she couldn’t control herself around food, and that Evie was eating too much and she had gained weight.” 

Belle frowned. “Evie is so thin. She is one of the smallest sixteen year olds I’ve ever seen.” 

“I think her mother forced her to be that way.” Ben confessed. “But that wasn’t even the worst part.” 

Belle kissed his forehead. “You can tell me whenever you’re ready, okay?” 

Ben took a moment to collect himself, then pulled back so he could make eye contact. He wanted to see his mother’s reaction. He wanted to know if she (or his father) had any inkling of an idea of what had happened to Evie. 

“The Evil Queen called Evie a whore.” The word felt foreign leaving his mouth, and he felt sick to his stomach after saying it. “She said she never had a problem with whoring herself out to anyone who would want to touch her.” 

Belle’s eyebrows furrowed. “Is that because of her having a child?” 

Ben shook his head. “Her mother didn’t know about Ellie.” 

“Ellie.” Belle repeated. “Is that the child’s name?” 

Ben couldn’t believe that his mother didn’t know Ellie’s name. How had he trusted his parents with finding a new home for a little girl whose name they didn’t even bother to ask? His uneasiness grew. 

“The Evil Queen kept grabbing Evie by her hair, and she slapped her across the face. Mom, she held a knife up to Evie’s throat.” He watched as his mother’s eyes started to get teary, but Ben had to finish. He needed to talk to someone about this. “Carlos tried to help Evie, but her mother asked if he wanted me to know that he used to eat out of a dog bowl.” 

“Oh my goodness.” Belle whispered. 

“She kept bringing up Mal. She doesn’t like that Evie and Mal are together, and Mal came outside with the baby. Every time she would get closer or talk, her mother would threaten to kill her. She called her a dyke and said she’s wrong for touching a girl the way she should touch a prince.” Ben shook his head. “She was asking why Evie was back, and if it’s because she misses being pretty. I love Audrey, but Evie is easily the most beautiful girl I have ever seen. As soon as she said that, I could see how hard she took it. She truly thinks that she’s fat and worthless and a whore, because that’s what her mother has drilled into her head.” 

“Did she hurt any of you?” Belle asked. 

“Only Evie. She threatened her brother and said she would kill him after she was done with Evie, and then she said she would kill Ellie.” 

“How badly did she hurt Evie? Does she need to go to the health center?” 

“She pressed the knife so hard into her throat that she started bleeding. But Mom, the knife wasn’t the worse part. The things she were saying…those words cut so much deeper than a knife ever could.” Ben smiled sadly. “I know you don’t know Evie very well, but she’s a good person. She’s so smart; she has the highest scores in chemistry out of our entire grade. She’s kind and so loving to the people she’s close with. She goes to every single Tourney practice and game so that she can cheer on Mal, Jay, and Carlos, and sometimes I even hear her cheering for me. She’s been hanging out with Audrey sometimes, and Audrey adores her. No one deserves to be treated like that, but especially not Evie.”

“She sounds amazing.” Belle said. 

“She is.” Ben agreed. 

“Ben, I’m scared about where this story is going. Did the children make it back from the Isle? Is everyone alive?” 

“They made it back, but someone did die.” He saw his mother’s eyes widen in horror. “She asked Evie if she gave me a turn with her and showed me the things she can do. Evie stared right at me and I’ve never seen someone look so ashamed before.” 

“Ben.” Belle whispered. She shook her head as the tears finally spilled over. 

“There was no choice, Mom.” Ben insisted. Before he told, he needed her to know that. No matter what he had to do, he would protect Evie. “The Evil Queen kept threatening Evie and her daughter, and she wouldn’t stop digging the knife into her neck.” He trailed off. 

Ben was quiet for a few moments until his mother grabbed his hand and squeezed it encouragingly. “What happened next?” 

“Evie slammed her head back and knocked her mom onto the ground.” He felt himself start to cry again. “She said that out of everyone she slept with, Mal was the only one that was by her choice. Mom, the Evil Queen let men into Evie’s room and…and…” 

“I understand.” Belle told him, trying to save him from saying the words. 

But Ben couldn’t let it be that easy. The VKs never got a break, so why should he? “She said that her mother listened to her scream, then yelled at Evie for not pleasing them.” 

Ben suddenly leaned over and gagged, feeling the bile rise in his throat as he imagined what Evie had been through. He couldn’t even fathom the pain that was associated with such a traumatic experience. It explained so much about Evie- her reaction to what happened with Chad, her aversion to being touched unless it was by Mal or the boys, how she sometimes got that faraway look in her eyes. He coughed, but didn’t throw up. 

“The Evil Queen said she owned Evie.” Ben lifted his head, knowing he had to look at Belle for his next statement. “And then Evie killed her.” 

Silence. 

The study was dead quiet as his mother processed what he said. Ben still couldn’t believe that Evie had stabbed the woman. He never would have thought Evie was capable of murdering someone, and it just showed how far she had been pushed. He wondered if he could kill someone if he was pushed far enough. 

Belle ran her fingertips across her cheeks to wipe away her tears. Then, she reached out and cupped Ben’s face. “How is Evie?” 

“When we were on the limo ride home, she got mad. She was yelling how it wasn’t fair that people had parents who sold them to the highest bidder. But Mom, even through all of that, you know what stuck out the most?” 

“What?” Belle asked softly. 

“How much she loves her daughter. I know that Evie is young, but when she held that little girl, all I could think was that it was incredible how much she loved her and had sacrificed for her. Even Mal, Jay, and Carlos held her so carefully and looked at her like she was the most precious thing in the world.” Ben sat up straight, preparing himself mentally for his next statement. “I don’t even know where to begin on fixing the problems on the Isle. Tonight, so much happened that I could have never anticipated. But there is one thing that I think I can do to help.” 

“What is it?” 

“We can let Evie raise Ellie.” 

Belle smiled and leaned forward to kiss his forehead. “You are such a good man, Ben. The fact that you are thinking about all of this shows me how you will be a great leader for Auradon. It seems like the issues on the Isle of the Lost have definitely escalated beyond what we could have predicted, but with you in charge, I think we can make some serious changes. Besides that, you’re not alone. We will talk to your father about all of this and we’ll find a solution, together.” 

Ben shook his head. “Dad can’t know.” 

“I know your father has been a little uncomfortable with the changes you want to make to the Isle, but trust me when I say that he will help. Is it okay if I go wake him?” 

Ben really didn’t want to let Adam get involved, but he figured his mother was right. Maybe if Adam knew some things about the Isle it would help change his view. He nodded his head. 

Belle disappeared, returning a few moments later with Adam. He sat down next to them and looked at his son in concern. 

“Your mother said you were on the Isle of the Lost tonight. What were you thinking going there? You know it’s not safe.” 

“No Dad, it’s not. It’s even worse than what I expected. Everything is dirty, people don’t have enough resources, and there are constant wars for territory. Those wars are fought by people who are my age. Isn’t it ironic that while we’re sitting in math class, the Isle kids are punching and stabbing people just so they can stay safe?” Adam opened his mouth to speak, but Ben put a hand up. “I’m going to tell you some things from tonight, but I want to talk first. I need you to get rid of everything you think you know about the Isle because I’m going to tell you about the reality.” 

Adam nodded. “Okay.” 

“There aren’t any sort of laws being enforced. People gain control by owning territory, and they get that territory through fighting other people. They have no doctors or medicine. Their school is crumbling and falling apart, and it’s not required for them to go; a lot of kids skip anyway because they have to do jobs for their parents instead. Abuse is extremely common, and it’s obvious to me now that Mal, Jay, Evie, and Carlos were abused by their parents. I think we’ve always assumed that because they are parents, they must love and take care of their kids, but we have to realize they are still villains. They take their anger out on the same children they’re supposed to protect and they use them as pawns.

“Dad, tonight I listened to Evie’s mother throw insults at her that made me feel like I was going to throw up. She held a knife to her throat and threatened to kill her and her daughter. Evie acted in self-defense and killed the Evil Queen.” 

Adam inhaled sharply. “Excuse me?” 

“She didn’t have a choice. There was no way any of us could have walked away from there. She dug the knife so hard into Evie’s neck that she was bleeding, so she had to kill her.” Ben studied his father’s reaction; he didn’t look happy, but he wasn’t yelling either, so that was a positive. “I’m going to tell you right now that I refuse to let Evie get in trouble for what she did. She did what she had to do so that all of us could get back to Auradon, and I could already tell that she was punishing herself enough in the limo ride back home.” 

Adam nodded his head. “I agree.” Ben never expected to hear that statement out of his father’s mouth. “I know the Evil Queen is a truly vicious woman; your mother and I have heard accounts of her abuse from Snow White herself. I’m sure that Evie had no other choice.” 

Ben decided now was the time to express his next thought. “I also want Evie to keep her daughter.”

“She’s only sixteen, Ben. It’s even more obvious now that she’s been through some serious trauma. I don’t think being a mother is the best thing to add to her plate right now.” Adam said calmly. 

“She’s going to be even more traumatized if she has her child ripped away from her. I know that’s the deal we made, but I can’t force that. Not after how the Evil Queen treated her, or after seeing how much they all love the baby.” 

“What about the father?” Adam asked. “How will Evie and Jay raise a child together? Isn’t she dating Mal?”

“That won’t be a problem.” Ben told him. He had to remind himself that his parents barely knew the VKs. Since he had spent time with them, it was obvious that there was no way Evie could ever love someone that wasn’t Mal. “They are all very close and they can take care of her together.” 

Adam was quiet for a long time. Ben didn’t care what his father said- he intended on letting Evie keep her child no matter what, but it would definitely be easier if he didn’t have to go behind Adam’s back to do it. 

Belle reached over and grabbed her husband’s hand. “She’s young, Adam, but that doesn’t mean she can’t handle it. The poor girl deserves to have some happiness in her life. We have the chance to make something positive happen for her.” 

Adam sighed. “She can keep the child.” 

Ben had never been so excited. Now, he just needed to share the news. He jumped up with the intention of going to their room. 

“No, Ben.” Belle objected. “I know you want to go tell them, but it’s close to two o’clock in the morning. I’m sure they’re all sleeping and we should let them rest. You can tell them in the morning, okay?” 

Ben considered it. He was exhausted, and he was sure the others felt the same. He gave in pretty easily. “Okay.” He hugged his mother, then his father. “Thank you for listening. Please don’t tell anyone what I’ve told you tonight.” 

“It stays between us.” Adam promised. “Go get some sleep, son.” 

\-----

After a while, light started to filter in through the bedroom window. Mal knew it was getting closer to morning, and she could tell that Evie knew too. Her smile had disappeared, and she was holding onto Ellie almost desperately. 

Mal prided herself on being a leader. She could almost always come up with a solution to a problem. She always protected her people, regardless of the cost. She just didn’t know how she was going to make it so that Evie could stay with Ellie. 

“I can’t do this, Mal.” Evie whispered as an almost orange glow filled the room. Ellie was nearly asleep, her head on Evie’s chest and her eyelashes fluttering. “I know we made a deal, but I can’t let her go.”

Mal was out of her element. What was she supposed to do now? Did she reassure Evie that it would be okay when they both knew it wouldn’t? Did she try to come up with some sort of plan that would get them out of this mess? Did she just pull Evie closer and hold her and Ellie until it was time for Ben to come take the baby away? 

“What do you want to do?” Mal finally settled on. 

Evie’s chin lifted slightly in determination. “Leave Auradon and go hide somewhere with her.” 

Mal knew that it would be hard for them to hide. But maybe if they got far enough outside of Auradon, they could hide in neighboring towns until they were able to find a way to make their own safe place. No matter what, that was a better option than not trying at all. 

“Then let’s do it.” Mal said. At this point, she would do literally anything for Evie after all that had happened. She knew that they had only scratched the surface on how much Evie had to get through before she would be okay again. Murdering her mother, as much as she deserved it, would weigh heavily on Evie’s conscious for a long, long time. 

Mal wished she had been able to step in and do it for her. She had dreamed about Grimhilde’s death, and how she would make her suffer for everything she did to the person she loved most in the world. If she could, she would have traded places with her with zero hesitation. 

“Well let’s go then. Start moving.” Jay ordered. 

“You guys.” Evie said softly, rising up to stand in front of the boys. “I don’t want you to feel like you have to come. I understand if you don’t want to be on the run, and…”

“Save the speech.” Carlos interrupted. “We’re coming.” 

Evie smiled. “Okay then.” 

“We’ll go pack what we can from our room. Meet you back here in five.” The two boys hurried out of the dorm. 

“Alright, my little love.” Evie kissed Ellie’s cheek and then gently laid her on the bed. “Stay here while we pack up.” 

The two of them moved quickly around the room, grabbing anything they couldn’t bear to part with. Obviously they couldn’t bring everything, but they wanted to bring the necessities. Evie grabbed the first aid kit they had hidden under their bathroom sink, and Mal took the extra food they had been stashing in case of an emergency. 

Mal’s eyes lingered on the orange bottle sitting on the table next to the bed. What about Evie’s anxiety medicine? How could she keep getting more if they ran away? She started to get worried. Was running away worth losing all the progress Evie had made?

Then, she looked over at Evie, who was staring down at Ellie with such love in her eyes that it made Mal’s heart ache. Yes, it was worth it. Her girls had to be together, no matter what it took. Evie’s progress wouldn’t matter anyway if she was self-destructing from losing her child.

Mal did grab the bottle and toss it into the bag though. 

The boys came back, each with their school backpack strapped onto their back and dressed in fresh clothes. Mal noticed they had layered up; it was November and pretty cold outside, so they would need to take that into consideration. 

The purple haired girl looked over to Ellie. They only had whatever outfits Harry and Uma had shoved into the bag. Right now, she was dressed in a warm onesie, but she would need more than that. 

“I made her a few things.” Evie admitted. She leaned down and pulled a box out from under their bed. “They might be a little big, but I think it’ll work.” 

“Bring it all.” Mal agreed. “Did you happen to make her a coat?” Evie held up a tiny blue wool coat. “Of course you did.” She said with a laugh, shaking her head in amusement at her girlfriend. 

By the time they were all packed up, each of the VKs was carrying a backpack, Evie had a purse with all the emergency items, and Jay was carrying an extra bag that contained some of Ellie’s things. 

As they walked past Evie’s desk, Mal saw her reach out and run her fingers over all the fabric she had stacked neatly so she could use it to make designs. “I’ll miss the materials the most.” Evie stated. 

“We’ll get more.” Mal promised. 

She turned and looked around the dorm room. Pink definitely wasn’t her color, and she hated anything with ruffles, but over the past two months, that room had become home. She would miss it. 

They walked out of the room quietly and headed towards the stairwell. Jay took the lead, followed by Carlos, then Evie holding Ellie, and finally Mal. 

“Hey!” they turned at the new voice in the silent hallway, seeing Ben coming towards them. 

Mal tensed up immediately. He wouldn’t be taking Evie or Ellie away without a fight from her. 

“What’s going on?” Ben asked. He didn’t look as put together as usual, and Mal noticed that his clothes didn’t really match. He was also a little sweaty, as if he had run there. 

“We’re leaving.” Mal said simply. 

Ben frowned, as if that possibility hadn’t dawned on him. “What? Why?”

“Evie can’t lose her baby.” Mal dared him to argue. She stared right at him, allowing her eyes to glow a little bit. 

Ben just frowned. “I know, that’s what I came here to say.” 

“Huh?” Jay questioned. 

“After I saw what happened with Evie yesterday, I knew that I couldn’t cause her more pain.” He looked at the four teenagers. “You have permission from both me and my parents to keep Ellie. If you get together a list of the necessary baby supplies, we can get it together for you.” 

“Thank you.” Evie said softly, staring towards the ground. Mal could see how tense she was. “Mal will do a great job raising her.” 

Mal instantly shook her head. “Evie, I…”

Ben interrupted before she could continue. “Why will Mal do a great job? Why won’t you be there?” 

Evie looked up at him slowly. “Because I killed someone. I know there will be consequences.” She bit her lip. “You’ll have to send me back to the Isle.” 

Ben stepped forward and Mal fought back the urge to hit him. Her protective instincts had been going crazy since last night, and she didn’t want anyone standing too closely to her girlfriend. Ben seemed to sense her discomfort and stopped a few feet in front of Evie. 

“Evie, you’re not in trouble. I saw what happened and I know you didn’t have any other choices. Later, you’re going to come with me and talk to my parents and FG and explain what happened. I promise you that it will be alright. I’ve got your back, okay?”

Mal could see Evie’s internal battle. It was hard for them to give away their trust and believe that someone else could protect them. She could tell that Evie was going to give Ben a chance before she even spoke. 

“Okay.” 

The five of them (plus Ellie) stood awkwardly in the hallway, not really sure what to do next. Mal sighed, letting the heavy backpack fall off her shoulders. 

“Well if we’re not leaving, let’s go back in the room.” 

The others followed her lead and they all dropped their backpacks near the door. They went and sat in the living room area- Ben standing, Evie and Mal on the couch, and Jay and Carlos sprawled out on the floor. 

“Can I hold her?” Ben asked suddenly. 

Evie was holding Ellie, and Mal could see her hands grip the baby tighter. But then, she took a deep breath and leaned forward. 

“Sit.” Evie nodded towards the table and Ben sat carefully on the edge. Mal could see out of her peripheral vision that Jay and Carlos had instantly sat up, all four of them ready to swoop in in case Ben dropped Ellie. 

Evie shifted Ellie into Ben’s arms. He sat her on his lap, keeping an arm around her to keep her in a sitting position. Ellie looked around, her gaze on Jay. Jay crawled over and made a funny face at her, earning a scrunchy-nosed smile. 

Ellie turned her head and her eyes landed on Ben. Mal waited to see how she would react. When they were with Ellie on the Isle, it was always just the four of them. The only person Mal had ever seen Ellie meet was Dizzy, and everyone adored the preteen. Would she cry when she realized Ben was holding her? 

But then, Ellie let out a loud giggle, causing the tension in the room to drop. The VKs let out a collective sigh of relief. Mal felt like this almost symbolized something- if Ellie trusted Ben, then maybe they should too. 

Ellie’s tiny hands reached up and latched onto Ben’s crown, pulling it off his head. Ben didn’t seem the slightest bit annoyed as the eight month old waved it around. 

Jay snorted. “Wow, just like her mom already.” 

Evie rolled her eyes. “Shut up, Jay.” 

Now that they knew Ellie was okay, Mal felt a little more relaxed. She reached out and grabbed Evie’s arm, pulling her girlfriend until she was close enough that she could wrap her arms around her. It had now been over two days since Evie slept, and in the three days before that, she had probably slept a total of about eight hours. Mal knew she had to be exhausted, and she smiled triumphantly when Evie yawned and leaned her head on her chest. 

“She’s adorable.” Ben commented. “Evie, she looks just like you. 

“She’s like a little clone.” Carlos agreed. “I don’t see any features on her face that aren’t the same as yours.” 

Mal was relieved by that, and judging by Evie’s silence, so was she. Throughout her pregnancy, she had told Mal that she was terrified that Ellie would come out looking like her father. As soon as she laid eyes on the little girl, Mal knew she had nothing to worry about. 

“What does she eat?” Ben wondered. 

“When we had her, she was completely breastfed.” Evie explained. “We gave whatever extra milk I could pump to Harry and Uma, and after she finished that, they started mashing up whatever food they could find to give to her.” 

“There’s a list in her backpack.” Carlos informed them, going over to the little bag that had been packed full of Ellie’s things. He pulled out a list and handed it to Mal. 

She looked over it and saw that Harry and Uma had marked down the different foods Ellie had tried, along with if she liked it or not. Mal laughed. “Look, baby. Ellie doesn’t like broccoli either.” Evie rolled her eyes at her and just snuggled closer.

“Are you going to keep breastfeeding her?” Ben wondered. 

“She can’t. If you don’t keep breastfeeding or using a pump, then the milk supply dries up.” Mal told him. 

“I’m sure Fairy Godmother has some sort of spell, or maybe there’s a potion for that. If you wanted to, there might be a way.” Ben offered. 

Mal nodded in consideration, filing that information away for later. She hadn’t ever really been around babies, but she knew Ellie was small and needed all the nutrients she could get. Mal refused to let Ellie grow up dealing with food issues like Evie had.

Jay stomach growled, interrupting their conversation and making everyone smile. Mal was happy that the tension in the room was much lower than before; Evie’s breathing was slow and steady and she could see that she was struggling to keep her eyes open. Mal wanted Evie to sleep more than she wanted anything else in this world. 

“Why don’t we go grab some breakfast?” Ben offered. “We could eat there, or bring it back here.” 

“Can you guys bring something back?” Mal asked, looking towards Jay, who stood with a nod. He reached out and took Ellie from Ben, who then stood up. 

“You keep an eye on this one.” Jay said as he passed Ellie to Carlos. “You watch this one.” He said to Mal as he gestured towards Evie. “And you,” he leaned down next to her and pressed a gentle kiss to her forehead, “close your eyes because everyone is safe now.” 

Evie sighed. “Not everyone.”

“One step at a time.” Mal reassured her girlfriend. 

“What do you want me to get you for breakfast, Eves?” Jay questioned. 

Evie snuggled closer to Mal and shut her eyes. “Yogurt and strawberries.” 

“Got it. Any special requests?” Mal and Carlos shook their heads. “Let’s go, Ben.” 

As much as Mal wanted Evie to sleep, she knew that she needed to eat breakfast first. Mal and Carlos talked to her, doing their best to help Evie stay awake. Ellie was obviously getting sleepy too from the way she was yawning and rubbing her eyes. She knew both of her girls were going to be taking a long nap this morning. 

It didn’t take long for Jay and Ben to return. They brought yogurt for both Evie and Ellie, and then a random assortment of other foods for everyone else to share. 

“Here Carlos, I’ll take her.” Mal said, reaching out for the baby so Carlos could have his breakfast. 

“It’s okay, I can feed her. Take care of Evie.” 

Evie was half asleep on Mal’s lap and she couldn’t help but smile at her soft breathing and pouted lips. She leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss. 

“Come on, baby. Time for breakfast.” 

Evie sighed. “I’m so tired.”

“I know.” Mal kissed her cheek. “Eat and then sleep.” She opened Evie’s yogurt for her. “Do you want the strawberries cut up and put in the yogurt, or separate?” she didn’t answer. “E.”

“Hmmm?” 

Mal made the decision for her, cutting the strawberries and putting them into the yogurt. She got a spoonful and held it up to Evie’s lips. She frowned, but opened her mouth, letting Mal feed her. Evie lifted her head up and tried to sit, but her entire body was aching and she couldn’t keep her eyes open. 

“I’ve got you, Princess.” Mal promised, continuing to feed the yogurt to her girlfriend. Evie just gave in and laid her head back down, then closed her eyes again. 

Mal fed her about half the yogurt and looked at Evie for any sign that she was almost finished. The blue haired girl just chewed up the last bite and then opened her mouth again. Mal kept feeding her until the whole thing was gone. 

“You’re finished, Pretty Girl.” She told her, giving her a kiss on the forehead. “Sleep now.” 

Evie’s face was buried in her neck now, and she leaned up to kiss her skin. “Thank you, my love.” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal shifted Evie so that she was completely on her lap, then reached out and grabbed a plate.

“Let me help.” Ben offered. “What do you want?” 

Mal had him put eggs, bacon, and toast onto her plate. She smiled thankfully when he handed it to her, and she balanced eating and holding Evie. She glanced over at Carlos, who was cleaning Ellie’s face off. The little girl was nearly asleep. 

“Mama.” She whimpered. 

Evie, who Mal was pretty sure had been asleep for the past two minutes, immediately sat up. She looked around until her eyes landed on her daughter, then held her arms out towards her. 

“How about you two lay down?” Mal put her still full plate on the table and then scooped Evie up so she could carry her over to their bed. She laid her down carefully on the mattress and covered her up. Carlos came over and Mal took Ellie, giving her a kiss on the cheek and passing her to Evie. She leaned down and kissed Evie’s lips. 

“Stay with me.” Evie whined. 

“I’ll be right back. I’m going to finish eating.” Mal gave her another kiss and then went back over to eat her food.

“Do you remember what day it is?” Ben asked. 

Jay looked at him in confusion. “Saturday?”

“We have a Tourney game today.” Ben reminded the VKs. 

That had completely slipped Mal’s mind. So much had happened that the last thing she was worried about was Tourney. 

“We’re not going.” Carlos answered for the group, earning agreeing nods from Mal and Jay. 

“I just want to give you something to think about.” Ben said. “You know that I have total faith in the four of you to raise Ellie, and I know you will take great care of her. But not everyone will be as confident as me.”

“Get to the point.” Mal interrupted. She didn’t have time for whatever Ben was saying; she needed to eat and get in bed with her girls. 

“If you want to prove that you are mature enough to keep Ellie, then you need to try and keep things as normal as possible. That way everyone on the Auradon council will see that you’re still doing your best to fit in here and they won’t try to cause any trouble about Evie keeping Ellie.” 

Mal thought it over. Ben did have a good point. If they just stopped doing extracurriculars, didn’t ever leave their room again, and let their grades slip, the people of Auradon would have a reason to say that Evie shouldn’t be allowed to keep her daughter. 

Mal wouldn’t be giving anyone the chance to make that argument. 

“You guys should go.” Mal said, looking towards her friends. Jay and Carlos both opened their mouths to protest, but she shook her head, effectively cutting them off. “Ben makes a good point. We need to keep it together so this doesn’t backfire.” She looked at the prince. “I’m not leaving Evie.” 

“That’s understandable.” Ben agreed. 

They finished their breakfast and talked quietly, trying not to disturb Evie and Ellie. As soon as Mal finished, she tossed her plate in the trash and then went over to their bed.

Evie was breathtakingly beautiful. Mal still didn’t understand sometimes how she had been lucky enough to end up with the blue haired princess. Mal loved when Evie was asleep because she always pouted her lips, and her eyelashes were so long and laid perfectly when her eyes were closed. Her breathing was soft and steady and she was laying on her right side, facing towards Mal’s empty side of the bed. Her hand was resting on Ellie’s stomach. 

Ellie was on her back, her arms raised up by her head. Mal’s heart melted as she realized Ellie’s sleeping expression was nearly identical to Evie’s. One of Ellie’s hands was gripping a lock of blue hair, as if she was making sure her mother would stay right next to her.

Mal lifted up the blanket and crawled into bed next to Ellie. She reached an arm over to rest on Evie’s hip, sliding it down until her hand was on the small of her back. She stroked the skin gently, hearing Evie let out a content sigh. Mal touched their baby’s open hand with her index finger, smiling when Ellie instantly closed her fist around it. 

“We can make one of your dreams come true.” Evie said so quietly that Mal almost didn’t hear her. She figured she was talking in her sleep. 

“What are you talking about, E?” 

Evie’s eyes fluttered open. “If you were serious, Ellie can call you Mommy. If you don’t want her to, I get it, but…”

“No.” Mal interrupted, her heart starting to beat a little faster as she committed this moment to memory. “I am serious. I would love to be Ellie’s Mommy. Forever.” 

Evie smiled sleepily and her eyes shut again. “Okay.” 

Mal beamed proudly. “Okay.” 

She fell asleep with a smile on her face and her girls in her arms.


	34. Separation Anxiety

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> First off, you may want to go back and make sure you read the last chapter before reading this one. For some reason, the notifications were really weird and I never received any emails saying people commented, so just in case you all didn't see that this was updated, make sure you read the last chapter! 
> 
> Thank you for the amazing comments last chapter! I have a few quick questions/comments for you all:   
> -Do you want to keep seeing flashes to the Isle? This will always be Evie's story and she will always be the main focus, but everyone seemed to really like seeing Uma and Harry's POV last chapter. 
> 
> -Someone a few chapters ago asked me if I would be putting Jay and Carlos together. Is that something you all are interested in? I don't mind putting them together (honestly, I don't really ship Jay or Carlos with anyone, but I have read stories with Evie/Mal as the main focus where the boys are in different pairings or with each other), but I just don't know how to do it authentically in this story and make it make sense with the storyline. Do you want to see them together or are you fine with them staying how they are? 
> 
> -I had another comment saying they want to see the dynamic explored between Evie and Mal a little bit more, and what would happen if Mal was the one breaking down and Evie had to take care of her. I LOVE that idea, and I'm trying really hard to find a way to fit it in, but it's so hard with everything Evie is dealing with right now. I just don't feel like it's in character for Mal to completely breakdown on Evie when she knows how much shit Evie has on her plate already. You do get a little bit of a Mal breakdown this chapter, but I'm still trying to figure out how to work in Mal talking to Evie more about her feelings! 
> 
> This chapter took FOREVER to write, and I wasn't sure I would have it ready for today, but I powered through and got it done because I don't want to disappoint all of you! You seriously have no idea how much every comment on this story makes my day. Please keep the ideas coming!

“Evie.” The blue haired girl frowned, wondering why someone was waking her up. She was still exhausted and felt like she could sleep for a week. “E, baby, wake up.” 

She recognized Mal’s voice and opened her eyes. She could feel the warmth coming off of Ellie’s tiny body from where she laid between the two women. After seeing that her daughter was still asleep, she was confused about why Mal woke her up. 

She looked up at her girlfriend and saw Ben standing next to her. She could tell the boy had bad news by his body language. He was wearing different clothes and had obviously showered, so she wondered how long she had been sleeping. Evie sighed and laid her head back down on the pillow. 

“What’s wrong now?” she questioned. 

Mal laid down next to her, their faces close together. “We’re going to have to take Ellie to the health center.” 

Evie held in her groan. The last thing she wanted was to have her baby locked up without her while they ran tests. She was too little to be alone. 

“No.” Evie refused. “You’re not separating her from me.”

“You don’t have to separate.” Ben explained. “You can stay with her the entire time, okay? I won’t let them take her away from you.” 

Evie felt a little better after his reassurances. She wondered how someone like Ben existed. How could someone be so good? 

“My parents and Fairy Godmother are waiting there. They want to talk to you about what happened on the Isle and hear your side of the story.” 

She wanted to cry. This was going to take forever, and then she wouldn’t even get to go back to her room and sleep afterwards. 

“Hey, it’s okay.” Mal leaned forward and kissed her cheek. “You’ve got this, baby girl. Remember, this is for Ellie. You have to get through this so we can keep our baby.” 

Evie nodded in understanding. She sat up and ran a hand through her hair, grimacing at the tangles. “How much time do I have?”

“Not much. I can give you 15 minutes.” Ben offered. 

“We’ll meet you there.” Mal promised. Ben excused himself, and Evie noticed that the boys weren’t there. 

“Where are Jay and Carlos?”

“There was a Tourney game today. They had to go back to their room to shower.” Mal explained. 

Evie looked at her in confusion. “You all left and I slept through it?”

“I didn’t go.” Mal told her. “I’m going to text Jay and let him know what’s going on. Go get ready, okay?” 

They moved around mostly in silence. Evie was still absolutely exhausted, and she was dreading the health center. It was already bad enough that she would have to be held there with her daughter for the next couple days, but it was made even worse by the fact that she would have to explain what happened on the Isle. 

Once she was finished getting dressed, Evie wrapped Ellie in a blanket and lifted her up. She had packed a bag with a few outfits for both of them, which Mal grabbed, and then they left the room. Mal stayed right by her side, and when they got to the front of the building, Evie saw Jay and Carlos waiting. The four of them walked in a line, ready to face whatever was coming together. 

When they arrived at the health center, Evie quickly spotted Fairy Godmother and Ben waiting. It was definitely a diplomatic move; they put the people they were friendliest to where they would see them first, and then they would have to deal with the others who they didn’t have as great of a relationship with. 

“Hi Evie.” Fairy Godmother rose, smiling at her gently. “How are you, sweetheart?”

“I’m okay.” Evie answered, though it couldn’t be further from the truth. Her head was a mess, she was emotionally drained, and her body ached. She knew that if she wanted to avoid any issues, she would have to put up a pretty strong front. 

“This must be Gabriella.” Fairy Godmother said. “She’s gorgeous.” 

“She takes after her mom.” Mal commented, effectively shutting down the conversation. “Where are we going now?” 

“Actually Mal, we’re going to need to speak to Evie alone.” Ben told her. 

“No.” Mal, Jay, and Carlos replied in perfect unison. 

Evie sighed; she should have expected this. She just turned and carefully passed Ellie to Mal, hoping that her daughter would stay asleep. 

“Evie, you have two choices here. Dr. Rhodes can come in and evaluate Ellie while she stays with Mal, Jay, and Carlos, or she can wait until you’re finished and do it with you in the room.” 

“What happened to Dr. Williams?” Jay wondered. 

“We decided he wasn’t the right fit for the Isle cases. Dr. Rhodes will be in charge of all of the children coming over from the Isle from now on.” FG explained. 

“She can do the evaluation with Mal.” Evie decided, looking at her girlfriend. She wanted Mal to know that she trusted her. The purple haired girl had been Ellie’s other parent during the first six months of her life, and it seemed like Mal had no intentions on leaving her. Evie went over to Mal and kissed her cheek, then kissed Ellie’s forehead. “Be good for Mommy, my love.” 

“Mommy?” Jay blurted out. “When did that happen?” 

“It’s about time you made it official.” Carlos added with a smile. 

“Mind your own business.” Mal said. She turned to look at Ben and FG. “We’re trusting you. I am trusting you to watch out for the most important person in my life. Don’t break that trust.” 

“We won’t.” Ben promised. “Come on, Evie.” 

Evie followed after Ben and Fairy Godmother. They led her down the familiar path to Dr. Bren’s office. She was surprised that when she went in the room, the only other people inside were King Adam and Queen Belle. 

“Where’s Dr. Bren?” she asked. 

“She won’t be here for this conversation. This is just you giving your side of the story. We don’t want you to feel like you are on trial or like you are under pressure to say the right thing.” FG explained. “Why don’t you take a seat?” 

They all sat together in an almost circle. Evie was between Ben and Fairy Godmother, so she was happy to at least have someone next to her that she trusted. She looked around the room anxiously, wondering when they were going to break the silence. 

“Evie.” Belle said softly. “Can you walk us through your trip to the Isle?” 

Evie took a deep breath and sat up straight. She was going to get through this without breaking down because she had no other choice. Ellie’s future depended on it, along with her chances of staying in Auradon. Even though Ben said they wouldn’t take her away, she wouldn’t feel better about it until she had confirmation from the king and queen. 

“As you know, we were going to the Isle to get Ellie. She was living with my brother, who lives on the far side of the Isle, so it was a long journey. We were able to stay hidden on the way there.” 

“What is your brother’s name?” Adam asked. His voice was gentle, and it surprised Evie. She didn’t know him very well, but she had never heard him speak so softly or calmly. 

“Harry Hook. He was raised by his father, Captain James Hook.” 

“And Harry was raising the baby alone?” 

“Harry and his friend, Uma- daughter of Ursula.” Evie stated. She figured it was good to bring up Uma now so hopefully they would remember her name later when they tried to get her off the Isle. “They took great care of Ellie. We were about to leave and then my mother approached us.” Evie trailed off. 

“Take it slow, dear.” Fairy Godmother encouraged. “What happened with your mother?” 

“Right away, she started insulting my relationship with Mal. She always wanted me to marry a prince, so she wasn’t happy when I started dating a girl.” Evie bit her lip. “She choked me, and then put a knife up to my neck. I couldn’t get away from her.” Evie’s hand unconsciously went up to touch the spot on her neck that the knife had dug into. She winced at the pain- it was still fresh and hurt to touch. “She was threatening everyone. She kept saying she would kill me, and then go after Ellie. Finally, she loosened her grip a little bit and I was able to knock her down. I-I stabbed her.” Evie felt her hands start to shake after she said it. 

“Was there anything else you could have done?” Adam asked. 

“There is no way she would have let us walk out of there alive.” Evie told him. “She has always hated me, and she hates Mal. She wouldn’t have ever just turned and walked away. I had to protect Ellie and Ben and all the others. I couldn’t let her hurt them.” 

“What happened after that?” Belle prodded gently. 

“Jay and Harry threw her body into the ocean, and then we started walking back to the limo so we could come back to Auradon. That was it.” 

The room was quiet as everyone processed the information. Evie felt a hand touch hers and she looked over, seeing that Ben was holding his hand out to her under the table. She reached out and held it, squeezing slightly to thank him for offering the support. 

“I am so sorry that you had to go through that.” Belle said. “I can’t imagine how hard this has all been on you. We want you to know that after careful consideration, Adam and I have decided that it is best that Ellie stays with you. It’s clear how much you love her and it is so incredibly selfless that you were willing to give her up in order to protect her, but I believe she will be safest with you.”

“Thank you.” Evie offered them a small smile. 

“We do want to make sure that your child is healthy.” Adam informed her. “She will be isolated here for a few days, just like you and your friends were when you came to Auradon. Since she is so young, we would like to offer for you to stay with her.”

“I will be staying with her, thank you.” 

“Let’s go back out and check on her.” Belle spoke, then stood. Everyone else followed her lead and they went back to the main area. A moment later, Mal and the boys exited an exam room with Ellie. 

“How did she do?” Evie wondered. 

“She was a little upset because she was woken up, but she did great.” Mal gave her a quick kiss. “How are you?” 

Evie shrugged, because honestly she didn’t know. She just felt so numb right now. “I don’t want to stay here.” 

“I know.” Mal pulled her closer. “It’s going to be okay.” 

“Dr. Rhodes will show you to the room.” Adam said as the doctor joined them. “Her parents are welcome to stay.” Evie went to step forward, her hand locked with Mal’s. “Take care of your family, son.” She turned just in time to see Adam slap Jay on the back. 

Jay’s eyes widened in alarm and Evie suddenly remembered that Adam and Belle though that he was Ellie’s father (she wasn’t stupid enough to believe that Ben or FG actually believed that lie). He stepped forward as Mal let go of Evie’s hand. Mal’s eyes landed on him, giving him a warning look that Evie knew meant that he better take care of her and Ellie. Jay nodded back to Mal in response. 

Evie gave Mal one last hug. Her girlfriend kissed her temple. “Stay strong, okay baby? As soon as you’re able to leave, I’ll be here. You can handle this.” She kissed her forehead. “I love you, E.” 

“Love you too, M.” she kissed her lips and then followed Jay and Dr. Rhodes towards the room they would be quarantined to for the next couple days. 

\-----

Mondays were always the worst day of the week. Mal didn’t know if it was because they were tired from the weekend and not ready to go back to regular life, or it was something about Mondays in general, but she always dreaded them. 

This Monday was particularly difficult. Mal had tossed and turned the whole night after she struggled to find a comfortable way to sleep. She was so used to having Evie practically on top of her that she wasn’t able to sleep without her. Carlos had spent the night in her dorm, and they got ready for the day in silence. 

Walking to the cafeteria for breakfast was strange. They had been a group of four for years now, so it felt wrong that they only had two people. Mal and Carlos talked quietly, but without Jay’s outrageous comments or Evie’s snort laugh, things weren’t the same.

Mal wondered if Evie was okay. She had barely got to talk to her after Evie told Ben, FG, Belle, and Adam what happened on the Isle and she was worried about her mental state. She just hoped that Jay would be able to keep Evie calm for right now. 

When it was time for Goodness class, Mal and Carlos took their usual seats. The empty classroom suddenly felt so much bigger. 

“I hate this.” Carlos said. 

“Me too.” Mal agreed. “I hate that they didn’t even let them keep their phones. I just want to know if E is okay.” 

“It seems a little suspicious that they would take their phones away if all they’re doing is keeping Ellie in quarantine to make sure she’s healthy.” 

Mal sighed. “I think they’ve evaluating Evie too. That’s why there was no argument about her staying with Ellie. I’m surprised they let Jay stay too.” 

“Maybe they figured that if Evie wasn’t okay, at least Jay would be there to take care of Ellie.” Carlos considered. 

Mal hoped that Evie was alright. Her girlfriend was the strongest person she knew, but so much shit had happened in the past few days. It was enough to break anyone. 

“Good morning, children.” Fairy Godmother greeted. Her smile faded when she noticed only two students. “Why don’t the two of you come up here for today?” 

Normally, Mal would have just ignored her. But FG had proven herself and Mal hated the emptiness anyway. She and Carlos grabbed their bags and came up to the front row, sitting next to each other this time. 

“Much better.” FG smiled and pulled a chair out, sitting across from them. “How are the two of you doing?”

“Fine.” Mal answered quickly. “Have you heard anything about Evie?” 

Fairy Godmother shook her head. “As far as I know, everything has been running smoothly. I know that Dr. Bren was planning on talking to her today.” 

“Okay.” Mal said. That was good. As much as she didn’t like the idea of the doctors watching her girlfriend and possibly finding something wrong with her, she knew that Dr. Bren at least knew Evie and would make sure she was okay. 

“But I want to talk about the two of you. I know you went back to the Isle of the Lost over the weekend. That had to be difficult.” 

“It wasn’t fun.” Carlos deadpanned. 

“I know that I spend a lot of time with Evie, but I care about the two of you too.” Fairy Godmother stated. “I care about you and I want to make sure you’re alright.” 

“We understand that, but right now, there’s still a lot to process.” Mal said. She really wanted to tell the older woman to fuck off, but she couldn’t ruin FG’s opinion of her. She needed her to be there so Evie had someone she could trust. “Can we just move on to whatever lesson you have planned?” 

FG smiled, but it didn’t quite reach her eyes. She went up to the board and started to dive in to a lesson about proper party etiquette. Mal welcomed the distraction and tried her hardest to listen. 

When the bell rang, it was time for lunch. Mal and Carlos packed their bags up, waved to Fairy Godmother, then went to the cafeteria. 

“Are we just going to keep pretending like nothing is happening?” Carlos whispered as they walked. 

Mal raised an eyebrow. “What do you mean?”

“You killed someone, Mal. I know that you don’t have a problem with doing what needs to be done, but you’re not a bad person. I know it has to weigh on you that you ended someone’s life.” 

Mal had done her best not to think about Tristan. It was a known fact among the VKs that Mal had killed before, but she rarely talked about it, and especially not to Evie or Carlos. The only person she really opened up to about that side of her feelings was Jay, and that was because he had killed people before too and understood. Obviously now Evie had killed the man who raped her and now the Evil Queen, but Mal would never, ever put the weight of her own kills on the already heavy burden Evie carried on her shoulders. 

“I don’t want to talk about it, Carlos. Especially not now.” 

“You know, it’s pretty hypocritical for you to force Evie to talk about her feelings when you refuse to talk about yours.” 

Mal turned to face him. “Stop, we’re not doing this. Not right out in the open, and especially not when two members of our crew and my daughter are locked up in the health center. Drop it.” 

“Alright.” Carlos said, holding up his hands in defeat. 

They made it to the cafeteria and grabbed their lunches. They sat at their usual table in silence, until Mal heard a tray being set down next to hers. 

“Hi.” Ben smiled, but Mal couldn’t help but notice that it wasn’t as bright as his usual smile. Audrey took the seat next to Carlos and across from Ben. “Mal, did Carlos update you on what happened on the Tourney game over the weekend?”

He started to launch into a story and Mal was grateful. She didn’t want to speak or think right now, she just wanted a distraction. Halfway through the story, Ben was interrupted. 

“Alright, can we cut the shit?” Audrey called out. 

“What?” Ben asked in surprise. 

She looked at Carlos, then Mal. “Can you all please just tell me what’s going on? Where are Evie and Jay?” 

Mal turned to Ben. “You haven’t told her yet?” 

Ben shrugged. “It wasn’t my business to tell.” 

Mal sighed. She didn’t particularly want to explain, but Audrey had proven herself. Plus, what kind of lie could they really make up? They might need some help with Ellie anyway, so it might be smart to make an ally out of Audrey. She turned to Carlos and raised an eyebrow; he nodded. 

“I’m going to tell you something and it stays between the four of us.” Mal stated.

“Okay…” 

“Evie has an eight month old daughter. We went to the Isle to get her over the weekend.” 

The look on Audrey’s face was priceless. Her mouth fell open and almost immediately after, the bell rang. The four teenagers started to clean up their trash. 

“But…what? How…” It seemed like Audrey didn’t even know what to ask first. 

Mal turned to Ben. “Fill her in, okay? Just the basics.” She wanted Audrey to know about Ellie, but she didn’t need to know that Evie’s mother had held a knife to her throat or called her a whore. 

She sighed as she threw her trash away. Only a couple more hours of school. 

\-----

The rest of the day passed relatively quickly. Mal’s afternoon classes had a lot of assignments, and Tourney practice was rough. Afterwards, she showered and then had dinner with Carlos, Lonnie, and Doug. The two teens asked about Evie and Jay too, but Mal just made up an excuse and said they weren’t feeling well. She liked Lonnie and Doug well enough, but she didn’t want to bring too many people into their circle. 

After dinner, her and Carlos sat in the living area of the girls’ dorm together and did their homework. Carlos explained chemistry to her, but his voice wasn’t as smooth and charming as Evie’s. They took turns showering and then climbed into bed. 

Mal had hoped that sleep would come quickly. She was exhausted after the long day, but she couldn’t get comfortable. She tried laying on her back, on her side, and on her stomach, but she couldn’t fall asleep- there was too much space in the bed. She finally turned onto her back and stared up at the ceiling.

There was no denying that her relationship with Evie could be a little tiring at times. On one of Evie’s bad days, Mal felt wound nearly as tight as her girlfriend, and she was dead tired by the time she fell asleep. It was emotionally exhausting to carry the pressure of being the one person Evie felt safe with and confided in. It hurt her heart to see how much Evie struggled with food and people touching her and with feeling like she wasn’t good enough. Someone on the outside looking in probably thought Mal would enjoy the break.

But if there was one thing in this world that Mal loved, it was Evie. She put her girl above everything else and took care of her every single day without a complaint. Sure, there were bad days, but the good days made it worth it. Mal would do anything to make Evie feel safe and to see a smile on her face. Right now, being separated didn’t feel like a break to her. Mal missed her girl so much that it was almost painful. She let out a sigh. 

Mal heard movement across the room, and then Carlos’s shuffling footsteps. He came over to Mal’s side of the bed, causing her to scoot over to Evie’s side. She tried to hide her smile when she was immediately hit her the blue haired girl’s scent. Carlos lifted up the blankets and laid next to her. 

“Can’t sleep?” Carlos questioned. 

“Too much space.” Mal explained. 

“I never thought I would miss Jay’s snoring.” Carlos admitted. “It’s not necessarily that I miss it, but I got so used to falling asleep with it in the background. It’s too quiet.” 

“Evie is always practically on top of me. She always lays her head on my chest and I play with her hair or rub her back until she falls asleep. My chest is too light without her.” Mal said quietly. 

“I’m sure she’s okay, Mal. Evie has her issues, but she’s strong. At least Jay is there to help her.” 

“I know, but I miss her.” Mal bit her lip, feeling the tears spring to her eyes. 

Carlos reached over and held her hand. “What’s up?” 

“Nothing.” She tried to play it off. Carlos was pretty perceptive though, and he could be insistent when he wanted to be. She had a feeling he wouldn’t let her drop it. 

“Whatever you say stays between us.” Carlos squeezed her hand. “You can trust me.” 

“I hate being away from her.” Mal admitted quietly. “Sometimes, E’s issues can be overwhelming, but she’s my entire heart, Carlos. I need her here.” 

“She’ll be back soon.” Carlos tried to reassure her. 

“We don’t know that.” Mal took a second to collect herself; she didn’t want to cry. “Like I said earlier, I guarantee the doctors are evaluating her too. What if they decide that she’s not ‘normal’ enough to leave the health center, or what if they send her back to the Isle?” 

“Ben’s on our side. He really does care about us.” Carlos said. “He won’t let them send her back.”

“You saw Evie after we got back. She bawled her eyes out for hours. We never talked about what happened, so I know she’s just been bottling it up and trying to push her feelings away.” Mal finally felt the tears spill over. “She killed her own mother, Carlos. I don’t know how to help her.” 

“Come here.” Carlos pulled her into a hug and Mal sobbed into his chest. She cried for Evie- for the pain she had endured at her mother’s insistence, and then her pain from having to end the woman’s life. She cried for Harry, who had to watch his sister murder his mother, then toss her body into the ocean, lose the baby he raised for two months, and find out he was still stuck on the Isle. She cried for Jay, who had no real obligation to Ellie, but would now have to pretend he was her father because of the selfless lie he told. She cried for Ben, who stood and watched as Evie was ripped apart by the Evil Queen and then had to murder her. Then finally, she cried for herself. She was sick of watching Evie get torn down. She was tired of always having to prepare her crew for the next bad thing. She refused to let them keep living this way. 

“I’m sorry.” Mal said when she finally calmed down. She was embarrassed that she had broken down like that, but Carlos just smiled at her and wiped her tears. 

“You’re human, Mal. You’re allowed to have feelings.” 

For once, she actually allowed him to comfort her. “I didn’t want to kill Tristan.” Carlos rubbed her back encouragingly. “I feel like people think I enjoy hurting people, but I don’t. I knew he would go back and tell Q we were there, and then he put his hands on Evie. I couldn’t let something happen to her.” 

“As much as it sucks, you did the right thing.” Carlos stated. “Obviously we know now that there was another guy there who ran and told EQ that Evie was back. But can you imagine if you had just let Tristan go? I’m sure they would have showed up sooner and then Evie might not have stood a chance. You made the best choice you could in a fucked up situation.” 

Surprisingly, Mal felt a little bit of the weight lifted off her chest. It felt good to be validated and for someone to understand why she did something. Normally after hurting someone, she kept it to herself and didn’t explain. This time, she felt like maybe her heart could actually heal. 

“How do you feel about Jay staying with Evie and Ellie?” Carlos wondered. 

Mal sighed. “I don’t want him to be trapped into being Ellie’s dad. I understand why he stepped up and said he is her father, but he shouldn’t be pressured to help raise her.” 

“I agree. Besides that, Ellie already has two moms who love her.” 

Mal couldn’t help but smile at Carlos’s words. “Yeah, she does.” 

“Ellie is so lucky to have you. She already won the jackpot with having Evie as a mom, but adding in you too? You guys are the best parents any child could ask for.” 

“I hope so. I don’t want to screw her up.” 

“That’s impossible. You and E are too aware of all the mistakes made in your own life. You won’t let anything hurt her.” 

Mal raised an eyebrow. “You seem awfully confident about that.” 

“I believe in you guys.” He gave her a look. “But just so you know, if you screw it up, I’m going to kick your ass. You’re one of my best friends too, but I’ll hurt anyone over Evie.” 

“If I ever hurt her, I’m giving you full permission to do whatever you think is necessary.” Mal said with a smile. They were quiet for a few moments. “Hey Carlos? Thanks.” 

“No problem.” He pulled her closer. “Now get some sleep.” 

Mal fell asleep with Carlos’s arm around her waist, a smile on her face, and hope that she would see her girl tomorrow. 

\-----

Dr. Bren looked up from her clipboard when the door to her office opened. It was Tuesday, meaning that it was Mal’s day for therapy. The purple haired teen came in and took her usual seat, looking at the therapist expectantly. 

When she first met the VKs, Dr. Bren had been weary. There was obviously so much trauma there and she didn’t even know where to begin. But as time passed, she had started understanding them a little better. 

Mal and Jay were the easiest. They were both defensive, but stable in their emotions and mental health. They had been through a lot, but if she asked the right questions, they would answer them respectfully and honestly. 

Carlos was harder. He was closed off and it was hard to break through the walls he built up, but over time, he had started to let them down a little. She felt like she was finally making progress with the youngest VK. 

Evie was still by far the hardest. Dr. Bren knew that the blue haired girl confided in Fairy Godmother on her Monday therapy sessions, but she wasn’t always as open during her Wednesday sessions with both women. As soon as they started to make progress with Evie’s eating disorder, she dropped the bomb that she was teenaged mother, which opened up a whole new world of issues. 

Dr. Bren would never forget the fear on the sixteen year old’s face. She had sat in FG’s office, looking at both of the women with absolute terror. She confessed that she had an eight month old daughter that was living on the Isle. Evie told them that she had to leave her child behind, but she was with someone she trusted. She said that the Isle was dangerous and if they didn’t move quickly, she was scared her daughter wouldn’t be okay for much longer. 

She knew that the four teenagers, plus Prince Ben, had gone back to the Isle over the weekend to retrieve the little girl. She had seen Evie the day before and could tell that she wasn’t herself. She was also there for Carlos’s therapy session yesterday, where he gave very little information about what had happened. Dr. Bren was hoping to have better progress with Mal today. 

“Hello, Mal.” She greeted, putting down the clipboard so she could give the girl her full attention. “How are you?”

“Fine. How are you?” 

Dr. Bren smiled. FG’s Goodness class was clearly rubbing off, even if Mal didn’t notice. When they first met over two months ago, it was like pulling teeth to even get her to make eye contact and now, she was exchanging pleasantries. 

“I’m doing well, thank you. Is there anything specific you would like to discuss?” 

“How is Evie?” Mal asked. 

“We can talk about Evie at the end of your session. Right now, I want to focus on you.” She could tell how badly Mal wanted to roll her eyes. “How was school today?” 

For a second, she was worried that Mal wouldn’t answer. But then, she sighed and gave in, knowing that if she didn’t cooperate she wouldn’t get the information she wanted. “It was weird only being with Carlos.” 

“Why is that?” Dr. Bren questioned. “Are the two of you not close?”

“We are, but it’s always been the four of us. It’s always weird when one of us is missing. It’s even worse now that two are gone, especially given the fact that it’s Evie and Jay. They are the most talkative, so things have been quiet.” 

“I can imagine that would be strange.” Dr. Bren agreed. “Mal, I know that you returned to the Isle of the Lost over the weekend to bring Evie’s daughter to Auradon. Can you tell me how you’re feeling about that?” 

“I have no desire to ever go back to the Isle.” Mal deadpanned. Dr. Bren waited for her to elaborate, but she never did. 

“Is there a specific reason why?”

“Yeah. It’s a shithole where all of our childhood pain and trauma was created.” 

Dr. Bren smiled at her sympathetically. “Mal, I was informed about the events that happened on the Isle. I know that Evie killed her mother…” 

“She did what she had to do.” Mal said, sitting up a little straighter. Dr. Bren swore that she saw her eyes get a little brighter. 

“Can you walk me through what happened?” 

“We got to the Isle, we went to see Uma and Harry. Harry is Evie’s half-brother, they have the same mother. While we were there to get Ellie, the Evil Queen came over. She attacked Evie and she would have killed her. Evie protected herself and the rest of us.” 

“How did Evie react afterwards?” 

“She shut down. We had to focus on getting Ellie off the Isle. There was no time to be upset.” Mal told her. Dr. Bren could practically hear the sadness in her voice as she said it. 

“She didn’t cry at all?” 

“Why do you need to know all this? Why can’t you just ask Evie?” Mal demanded.

Dr. Bren didn’t want to tell her that they had been doing mental evaluations on Evie. As soon as Ben told his parents about the Evil Queen being killed in self-defense by her own daughter, they communicated that information to FG and Dr. Bren. They had decided it was best to allow Evie to stay with Ellie during her quarantine so that they could also look after the teenager.

“Since coming to the health center, Evie has been struggling.” Dr. Bren admitted. She knew that with Mal, it was always best to be transparent. She could tell immediately when someone was lying to her. 

“What do you mean?” 

“She hasn’t been sleeping. She’s very agitated and it’s obvious that she’s having a hard time with everything. On the positive side, she’s taking great care of Ellie, and she has been doing pretty well with eating. 

Mal sighed. “After anything difficult happens, Evie always has trouble sleeping. Before we went to the Isle, she was so nervous that she barely slept. She was up for over two days before she finally took a nap on Saturday. She only slept for a few hours before Ben came to take us to the health center, so I know she’s exhausted. When she gets to a point that she’s too tired, she either can’t sleep at all, or she falls into an exhausted sleep and has nightmares.” 

Dr. Bren made sure to note that on her clipboard. That information could be useful in the future. She was determined to try and gather as much information on the VKs as she could; the better she knew them, the better she could treat them. 

“Can you tell me a little more about what happened with Evie after you all returned from the Isle?” 

“Obviously the plan had been to give Ellie up. We weren’t happy about it, but we knew that her being safe was the most important thing. Evie begged Ben to let her keep Ellie for the night, and he said that was okay. The boys watched Ellie while I helped Evie wash the blood off…” Mal trailed off. 

Dr. Bren’s heart broke when she realized the blood was probably from having to murder her own mother. 

“She cried for a long time, but she wouldn’t talk about it. She never told me how she was feeling, but I know she’s heartbroken. Evie is a good person, Dr. Bren. If there was any other choice, she wouldn’t have done it. Killing the Evil Queen was the only thing she could do.”

“I understand.” Dr. Bren wished she could reach out and hold Mal’s hand. “Evie isn’t on trial. I don’t blame her for what happened, and I know she would never intentionally hurt another person. I’m just trying to figure out what happened so I know where to go from here.” 

“Is she taking her anxiety medicine?” Mal wondered.

“Yes, she’s been taking the medicine, and she hasn’t thrown up at all. I spoke to Dr. Rhodes and we think it might be in Evie’s best interest to increase the dose on her anxiety medicine because it doesn’t seem to be working.” 

Dr. Bren figured that Mal had reached her limit on talking about the Isle. She didn’t blame the younger girl. 

“I can tell that she’s different.” Dr. Bren admitted, earning a concerned look from Mal. “I feel like we’re almost going to have to start over with all the progress she’s made, but I’m hoping that she stays on track with her eating disorder.” 

The doctor couldn’t have been more surprised when Mal started crying. 

The purple haired girl tried her best to hide it. She wiped away the tears quickly and then stared up at the ceiling, taking deep breaths to collect herself.

“It’s not fair.” Mal practically whispered. “We all went through so much shit with our parents. It’s not fair that even now that Evie’s mother is gone, she’ll still be tormenting her.” 

“I agree with you.” Dr. Bren said. “I promise that we are going to do our best to help Evie. We will help her cope with everything that happened, and with being a mother. We will help you understand the best ways to support your family. Everything is going to be okay.” 

Mal sniffled. “I really hope so.” 

“I have some good news.” Dr. Bren told her. She couldn’t stand to see her look sad anymore. “Evie, Jay, and Ellie are being released tonight.” 

“Seriously?” Mal instantly perked up. 

“Yes. You better get to the health center so you can meet them.” 

Mal jumped up and was out the door without another word. Dr. Bren couldn’t help but smile; she had never seen someone love another person as much as Mal loved Evie. A few seconds later, Mal’s head popped back into the room. 

“Dr. Bren?”

“Yes?”

“Thank you.” She gave her a small smile and then disappeared again. 

\-----

As soon as Ben got the phone call that Evie, Jay, and Ellie would be released, he had dropped all of his paperwork and rushed to the health center. They had gotten there on Saturday, and it was now Tuesday, so he knew that they were going to be excited to leave. He had given Audrey the task of shopping for baby items for Ellie- just the basics so they had what they needed to take care of the little girl. Ben knew that Evie would want to be involved in picking things out, especially clothes, so he saved most of that for later.

When he walked in, he went to the front desk to ask for Dr. Rhodes. He had decided to switch the doctors in charge of the VKs at Fairy Godmother’s advice, and he was happy that he had done it. Dr. Rhodes was much more compassionate and caring than Dr. Williams could ever hope to be. 

“Hello, Prince Ben.” She greeted with a friendly smile. “I take it you’re here about Jay, Evie, and Gabriella?” 

“Yes, I know they’re supposed to be released today. I texted Mal and Carlos on my way over here and they’re going to meet me.” 

“Would you like to see them?” Dr. Rhodes asked. Ben nodded his head, so she led him down the hallway towards the rooms the VKs had been quarantined in when they first came to the Isle. 

“How are they?” 

“They’re doing well.” Dr. Rhodes said cryptically. Ben knew it was against the rules for her to tell him too much about her patients, so he appreciated her silence. “You can go ahead and go in. Call if you need anything.” She showed him to the door and then turned and walked away. 

Ben approached the door, looking first into the window. Evie was laying on the bed, facing the wall to where he could only see her back. He could see that Ellie was laying between Evie and the wall and she looked like she was asleep. Jay was sitting at the end of the bed with Evie’s feet in his lap. When he saw Ben, he nodded towards him. 

The prince pushed the door open, trying to be quiet so he didn’t wake the girls. “Hello Jay.” 

“Ben.” He greeted. Jay’s head immediately turned towards Evie and Ellie, probably trying to tell if they had woken up or not. “Any word on when we’re getting out?” 

“Today. Mal and Carlos are on their way now.” He walked further into the room, feeling a little awkward standing there while Evie was sleeping. “How are you guys?” 

“We’re fine.” 

“Ellie seems good.” 

“Yeah, she’s been eating. Her sleep schedule is all over the place, but hopefully that will change once we’re out of here.” Jay ran a hand through his hair. 

“And Evie?” 

Jay let out a very telling sigh. Ben knew that Evie probably wouldn’t be okay for a while. 

“She’s a mess right now.” Jay admitted. “She just needs to get out of here and be with Mal.” 

“The two of you had some sort of relationship before, right?” Ben said, gesturing towards Ellie. “I’m sure you did fine with taking care of her.” 

Jay rolled his eyes. “I’ve seen you watching us. You’ve spent enough time around us and you heard a lot while you were on the Isle. I know you’re not stupid enough to believe that I am actually Ellie’s father.” 

Ben shrugged. “Whatever you guys want to say is your business. I’ll go along with whatever you need from me.” 

Then, he heard a tiny whimper. At first he thought it was Ellie waking up, but he quickly realized it was actually Evie. She was frowning, her body tense. She turned over onto her back. “No…please…stop…” 

Jay sighed. He got down on the ground and kneeled in front of her. “Wake up, Evie. You’re safe.” 

“Mal…please Mal…” she cried out. 

“Shhh, I know, Princess. You’ll see her soon.” Jay stroked her hair out of her face. “Evie, wake up.” 

Little pained sounds continued to escape her lips, and then she sat up abruptly, her mouth open in a silent scream. Her eyes darted around the room frantically. 

“Mal?” 

“She’ll be here soon.” Jay reassured her. “You’re safe.” 

Ben watched sadly as Evie’s face fell and tears started to fall down her cheeks. Jay reached up and pulled her down on to the ground with him. Evie sat on his lap and buried her face in his neck, her body shaking with her cries. 

Seconds later, the door to the room busted open. Ben looked over, seeing Mal standing there. As soon as Evie’s cries reached her ears, her eyes lit up. She looked around the room as if she was searching for the source of her girlfriend’s pain. Her gaze landed on Ben and she rushed towards him, slamming him against the wall. 

Ben knew that Mal could be aggressive. He had seen her play Tourney, and he knew she was fiercely protective. But that anger had never been turned on him before. He was a little surprised at how strong she was. 

“What the fuck did you do?” she demanded, holding her arm against his throat so he couldn’t move. 

Jay jumped up, inserting himself between them. He pushed Mal back while Carlos just stood motionless in the doorway and Evie sat huddled on the floor. “She had a nightmare.” He said to Mal. “Get your head out of your ass and go take care of her.” 

Instantly, Mal dropped the situation with Ben. She let him go and sank down on the floor next to Evie. 

“You good?” Jay questioned, patting him on the shoulder. 

“Fine.” He insisted, then turned his attention back towards the girls. 

“Hey, beautiful girl.” Mal said, reaching out slowly to touch Evie’s arm.

“Mal?” she whimpered. Evie’s knees were pulled up to her chest with her face buried in her knees, but as soon as she heard Mal’s voice, she looked up. Her eyes landed on the purple haired girl and she launched herself forward, almost knocking Mal onto her butt. “Mal!” 

“I know, baby girl.” Mal soothed, rubbing Evie’s back as she cried. “I’m here now, you’re safe. It’s all over.” She pressed kisses against her face. 

Ben’s heart broke at the sight. It wasn’t fair. The VKs were constantly given more and more shit to deal with. They didn’t deserve any of this. He sat down on the floor with Jay and Carlos, his heart aching as he listening to Mal try her best to calm Evie down. 

\-----

The weight on Evie’s chest that had been sitting there for the past three days finally lifted when she was in Mal’s arms. Of course she trusted Jay and knew he would protect her, but she never felt safer than she did with Mal. She melted against the other girl, finally letting someone else help her. 

It took a couple minutes before she could calm down completely. When she finally did, Evie sighed contently and settled against Mal. Her head was resting on her shoulder and Evie’s left hand came up to stroke Mal’s cheek. 

“I’m so happy to see you.” Mal said. She leaned down, pressing a gentle kiss against Evie’s lips. “You’re so fucking pretty, you know that?” 

Evie shook her head. It had taken them two days to talk her into showering or changing clothes, and even then she only did it because they let Jay sit in the room. She was dressed in a black t-shirt and gray sweatpants that had been given to her by the health center, and they were too big. “I don’t have makeup on or real clothes or…” 

“Stop. None of that matters because you’re perfect.” Mal silenced her with another kiss. 

Evie hated that Mal had walked in on her being such a mess. She wanted to be strong; she knew that Ellie was the priority right now and they needed to give her their full attention. She didn’t want Mal worrying about her.

“How are you feeling?” Mal wondered. 

Evie sighed. “Better now that I’m with you.” She cuddled into her even closer. 

“How has Ellie been?” 

“Pretty good. Dr. Rhodes brought in baby food, which is already mashed up and easier for them to eat, along with some bottles of formula. She likes the bottles better, but she did okay with the baby food. She refused the carrots, but she loves strawberries.” Evie smiled. “Just like her mommy.” 

Mal gave her another kiss. “Wow, look at our brave, strong girl.” She rested their foreheads together. “She takes after her Mama.” She gently stroked Evie’s arms, causing the blue haired girl’s eyes to close. She was so, so tired. She had slept so little in the past week that she felt like she was about to collapse. 

Evie felt Mal pick up her arm, and then a kiss against her wrist. She opened her eyes and saw Mal’s disapproval immediately. 

“Were you pinching yourself again?” she smoothed her thumb over Evie’s normally flawless skin, drawing her attention to the small bruises around both of her wrists.

“I didn’t even noticed.” Evie admitted. 

Mal made eye contact, and then her eyes drifted down to Evie’s lips. She felt her girlfriend’s index finger trace her bottom lip and winced slightly at the sudden pain. “You bit through your lip.” Evie tried to look away, but Mal tilted her chin back up so she could see her eyes. “I don’t like it when you hurt yourself.” 

“I didn’t mean to.”

“I know, but you need to be more careful.” Mal kissed both of her wrists, then her bottom lip, and finally her forehead. Evie relaxed against her right as they heard Ellie cry. Mal stood, lifting her up carefully, and then sat on the bed with Evie on her lap. 

As soon as Ellie saw the two women, she calmed down. Mal reached out and stroked her cheek. “Is she hungry?”

“She just ate not too long ago. I think she just wanted to see us.” Evie explained. “I understand the feeling.” 

Mal kissed Evie’s cheek. “We won’t be separated anymore.” 

Evie let her eyes shut as she buried her face in Mal’s neck. “I hope not.” 

She must have drifted off for a few minutes because when she opened her eyes again, Mal was shaking her. “Dr. Rhodes is here.” She informed her. 

Evie sat up slowly, wishing that everyone would just leave them alone. She was so ready to go back to the dorm. She scanned her eyes over the room; Carlos was now sitting at the end of the bed, Ben was standing, and Jay had pulled a chair over and was sitting in front of the bed, blocking the rest of his crew from any danger. 

“Hello, everyone. I want to give you some updates before we allow you to leave the health center.” Dr. Rhodes said. 

Evie tried to turn her body, but she felt Mal’s arm locked around her waist, not letting her move. Evie gave her a pointed look and Mal rolled her eyes, but moved her arm so that Evie could turn and face the doctor. 

“Is she okay?” 

“Gabriella is overall pretty healthy.” Dr. Rhodes explained. “She tested negative for all of the illnesses we evaluated her for. Her eyes and ears are good, and she tested similarly to other eight month old babies in all areas but one. Weight.” 

Evie felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. She never, ever wanted her baby to go through the same issues that she was going through. “W-what do you mean?” 

“Evie, your daughter is underweight. Our main focus over the next couple of weeks needs to be getting Gabriella’s weight up.” She started to go into detail with her plan to help Ellie and Evie listened with full attention. She refused to raise a daughter that was so small that she was unhealthy. She wouldn’t be like her mother. “Now Evie, I know you were having some trouble with the first anxiety medicine I prescribed. Dr. Bren told me there were some side effects, so I was wondering how your new medicine has been going.” 

Evie sighed. “Honestly, I’m a mess right now, so there’s no way I could give you an accurate explanation on how I feel because of the medicine. I don’t know if I’m uncomfortable because I’m exhausted or if it’s because of the medicine. I need more time before I can tell you that.” 

“That’s understandable.” Dr. Rhodes agreed. “Dr. Bren and I did agree though that we would like to up your dose for your anxiety medicine. There are certain anxious tendencies that I’ve noticed that shouldn’t be happening, so I think your dose is a little too low. If you start to feel any side effects, you can call me or Dr. Bren right away, okay?”

“Okay.” Evie agreed. She hated taking medicine, but she knew that it was for the best right now. She needed to get herself under control so that everyone would support the fact that she kept her daughter.

“Now I have something I want to discuss with you, but we need to do it alone.” Dr. Rhodes told her. 

Evie felt like screaming. She didn’t want to be separated from Mal. “Can Mal stay? Please?” 

“Yes.” Dr. Rhodes gave in. “Boys, would you mind taking Ellie and going to the waiting room?” 

Jay stood, reaching around the girls to grab the eight month old. “Scream if you need us.” He whispered. He waited for Ben to walk out first, then Carlos, and then he brought up the rear with Ellie in his arms, shutting the door behind him. 

“Evie, we have some concerns about the fact that you gave birth.” Dr. Rhodes said, sitting in the chair that Jay had previously occupied. “You are underweight and you were so young when you had Ellie. When you gave birth, did you have a doctor helping you?” 

Evie shook her head. “No. There aren’t any doctors on the Isle.” 

“Who helped you?”

“Mal and Carlos.” She answered. Evie felt a shiver run through her. She would never forget the agonizing pain of being in labor, or how Mal held her against her body with a hand over her mouth, or how Carlos had kneeled between her legs to help her baby come out. 

Dr. Rhodes turned to the purple haired girl. “Mal, when Evie gave birth, did she bleed a lot?” 

“Kind of.” Mal answered uncomfortably. “It stopped though after a little while, and then she bled a little bit for the first couple weeks after.” 

“Did she ever lose consciousness?”

“No.” 

“I don’t understand what you’re trying to say, Dr. Rhodes.” Evie interrupted. She was done with the cryptic shit. She just wanted to have a straightforward conversation so she could go back to her dorm with her family.

“In Auradon, we have special doctors who are trained in knowing how to help a woman give birth. They know any signs to look for that something could be wrong, and they know how to examine a woman’s body to make sure the delivery went well. There can be some lasting effects after giving birth, and if something went wrong and didn’t heal correctly, it could prevent you from having more children.” 

Evie’s heart sank. “Are you saying that you don’t think I can have another baby?” 

“No, not necessarily. I’m saying that with the lack of medical care on the Isle, something could have been missed. I would like you to have an exam done to make sure your body is healthy and everything went okay.” 

“Like the exam we did after being here for a month?” Evie asked in confusion. “The one where they checked my ears and throat and felt my stomach?”

“It’s a gynecologic exam.” Dr. Rhodes corrected gently. “You will be naked from the waist down. You will put your legs in stirrups and the doctor will do an internal exam. They can check and make sure everything healed after you gave birth to Gabriella, plus they will run tests to make sure you don’t have any signs of cervical cancer or sexually transmitted diseases.” 

Evie felt like she was going to puke. She couldn’t do this. There was no way. She felt Mal’s arms tighten around her. 

“Mal can stay in the room with you.” Dr. Rhodes told her after a moment. “I spoke to Fairy Godmother and told her we needed to do this exam, and she said it was best to wait until the end of your stay at the health center so Mal could be with you. Would it make you feel better to have her in the room?”

“Mmhmm.” Evie said. She was scared to speak- she would either cry or vomit. 

“Are you the one doing the exam?” Mal questioned. 

“No, there is another doctor. Her name is Dr. Abigail French.” Dr. Rhodes stood. “I know that this is a lot, Evie. But this is to make sure that you are healthy and that you could expand your family in the future.” 

Evie really didn’t want to do this. The only thing that was keeping her grounded was Mal’s arm around her waist and the idea of a little baby in the future that belonged to Mal as much as it did to her. A little baby they could plan and wish for and be happy about right from the beginning. 

“Okay.” Evie practically whispered. 

“Alright, I’m going to take you to a different exam room. Follow me, please.” 

Mal kissed her forehead and helped Evie stand. She locked her hand with her girlfriend’s, accepting all of the comfort she was offering. Evie felt her knees wobbling as they walked into a new room. 

“You’re going to take off the clothes you have now and change into this gown.” Dr. Rhodes said, handing Evie a flimsy gown that was literally made from paper. “We’ll give you a few minutes.” She exited the room. 

Evie turned to Mal and the tears started instantly. “I don’t want to.” 

“I know, baby. I am so sorry.” Mal pulled her into her arms. “It’s okay, E.” 

“I can’t handle it. I’m going to freak out as soon as the doctor touches me and then they’re going to know.” She grabbed onto Mal tighter. “What do I do?” 

“Just keep breathing. I’ll be right here the whole time and you know I won’t let anything happen to you.” She kissed her forehead, then cheek, then lips. Evie felt Mal’s hands touch the hem of her shirt. “Arms up.” 

Evie complied, lifting her arms so Mal could pull her shirt over her head. She reached around behind her and unhooked her bra, letting both articles of clothing fall to the ground. Evie’s arms immediately crossed over chest, trying to cover the exposed skin. The room was so cold and she could feel her teeth starting to chatter. 

“You’re okay.” Mal whispered, kissing her chin and then her neck. She took the paper gown and held it out so Evie could put her arms in, then tied it in the back. Mal sank down to the ground and put her hands on Evie’s hips, then looked up at her in question. Evie nodded; she had to trust Mal. She knew that Mal wouldn’t let anything bad happen. 

Mal slid her pants and underwear off all at once, pushing them over with her other clothes. She stood back up and her hands went to Evie’s hips again, lifting her up onto the bed. 

“I’m going to clean up your clothes.” Mal said, then kissed her again. “I’m right here. Just breathe.” 

Evie nodded and took deep breaths, keeping her eyes focus on Mal as she folded up her clothes and set them on a chair. As soon as she was finished, Evie reached her arms out to her. Mal came over and Evie wrapped her arms around her, holding her close. 

“This will be over soon.” Mal whispered. “As soon as it’s over, we can do whatever you want, okay? We can take a bath, take a nap, play with Ellie, sit together and draw, whatever you want, Princess.” She kissed her forehead. “I love you.” 

“I love you too.” Evie clung to her tighter. 

There was a knock on the door, causing Mal to pull back slightly. The door opened and Dr. Rhodes came back in with another woman. 

“This is Dr. Abigail French, she is an OB/GYN, meaning she specializes in women’s health and delivering babies.” Dr. Rhodes introduced. “Dr. French, this is Evie and Mal. Mal is going to stay in the room while you do the exam.” 

“It’s nice to meet you both.” Dr. French smiled kindly and shook both of their hands. Dr. Rhodes left the room and the new woman started to explain to them what she would be doing today. Evie did her best to listen, but she was struggling.

“We don’t have anything like this on the Isle.” Mal admitted after her explanation. “Evie is nervous.” 

“It can be a little nerve-wracking your first time, but I promise it will be quick.” Dr. French told them. “If you get too uncomfortable or you need a break, just tell me and we can stop, okay Evie?” 

“Okay.” Evie said.

“Evie, I’m going to have you lay back on the bed. Mal, I want you to move to the side of the bed and stand up by her head.” Her hand went to the stirrups on the bed and Evie’s pulse jumped. “I’m going to swing these around and you’re going to put your legs in them, okay?” 

Evie felt sick. Mal came up next to her and leaned down close to her. “Breathe, baby. In and out. You’re okay.” She reached down, lifting Evie’s left leg for her and putting it in the stirrup. Evie put her right leg in by herself. She took a deep breath to try and calm down. She tried to look at Dr. French, but Mal’s hand came up and touched her cheek, turning her head so she was facing her instead. Mal smiled at her.

Evie’s entire body tensed up as soon as Dr. French touched her and she whimpered at the intrusion. “I’m sorry, Evie. You’re doing so well.” 

“It’s okay, Princess.” Mal put their foreheads together and stroked her fingers over her cheek. “You’re safe.” 

The rest of the exam was torture. Evie was so tense that Mal had to put her hand on her stomach, stroking gently until she finally relaxed a little bit. It took a while until Dr. French finished. 

“Evie, you’re all done. Great job, honey. You can sit up.” 

Mal reached over and lifted both of her legs out of the stirrups for her. Evie sat up slowly, feeling Mal’s arm around her back. 

“From what I have seen, everything looks good. I don’t see any lasting effects from your childbirth. I will take the samples I collected down to the lab and we’ll know in a few days if you have any sexually transmitted diseases or any abnormal cervical cells. An STD could come from having multiple sexual partners who may have had one and spread it to you, and abnormal cells can possibly mean some type of cancer, but it is not common for someone your age.” 

“Thank you.” Mal answered for her, her fingers running over Evie’s back. The blue haired girl just leaned into her girlfriend. 

“You may get dressed and go out to the lobby where your friends are waiting for you.” Dr. French smiled. “If you have any questions, or you need anything, you can call me anytime.” She excused herself. 

“You did so amazing, Pretty Girl.” Mal kissed her cheek. “You are so brave, you know that?” 

Evie bit her lip, causing Mal to instantly run her finger along her lip and free it from her teeth. “I love you.” She whispered. 

“I love you too, baby girl. So, so much.” She gently kissed her lips. 

“What if I have one of the diseases they’re talking about?” Evie questioned. “It’s not like anyone on the Isle was exactly safe. What if one of those men or Quinton had one and they passed it to me?” 

“Then we’ll figure it out.” Mal promised, giving her another kiss. She wiped tears off of Evie’s cheeks that she didn’t even realize had escaped. “Are you ready to get dressed?” 

“Mmhmm.” 

Mal moved to go grab her clothes, but Evie kept her hold on her. Mal smiled and leaned in, gently rubbing their noses together. “You have to let go.” 

Evie squeezed her one last time and then let go. Mal grabbed her clothes and came back over. She leaned down, helping Evie into her underwear and sweatpants first, then untied the paper gown so she could put her bra and shirt on. Now that she was dressed, Mal helped her down off the table. 

“I need sleep.” Evie admitted. 

“That’s the first thing we’ll do when we get back to the dorm.” Mal reassured her. “Fuck, baby. I wish I could explain to you how important you are to me. I’m so happy you’re leaving this place.” She sighed. “Things weren’t the same without you.” 

“What, you didn’t enjoy the break from my constant issues?” Evie joked. 

“Taking care of you isn’t something I need a break from. You are my entire life, Evie.”

“And you are mine.” Evie lifted their joined hands and pressed a kiss to the back of Mal’s hand. “Come on, I’m so ready to go.” 

They walked back out to the waiting room, finding Carlos, Jay, Ben, and Ellie. Ellie was in Carlos’s arms now and she was giggling. 

As soon as Jay saw them, he stood. His eyes landed on Evie and he frowned. “What happened?” 

“Nothing, I’m okay.” Evie said, trying to smile for him. Jay came over and gave her a gentle hug, then kissed the top of her head. “Ready to go?”

“Yeah. Dr. Rhodes brought us this.” He held up a bag that had their clothes they came to the health center in and a new orange bottle which Evie knew had her new medicine in it, and then a separate bag that she saw was full of baby food and a few cans of formula. “She said that when this runs out, we can come back here and get more.”

“Great.” Evie felt arms wrap around her waist and she leaned back into Mal. “I can’t believe she’s underweight. This is my fault.” 

“No it’s not.” Jay responded before Mal had a chance.

“Yes it is. She was too young to be eating all solid foods. Plus we know that the quality of food that comes to the Isle isn’t the best, and she was completely relying on Uma and Harry to get that food and mash it up for her. She was depending on me for my breastmilk. If I had stayed, I could have kept feeding her.” 

“You had to come to Auradon, E.” Mal told her.

“You guys could have come without me. You could have tried to talk Ben into bringing me over and…”

“No. Things worked out how they were supposed to.” Jay insisted. “Ellie will be okay because we will all make sure she gains enough weight, okay?”

“I just don’t want her to grow up like me.”

“She won’t.” Mal and Jay said in perfect unison. 

“Come on, let’s go.” Mal guided the way towards the door. “Do you remember on the limo ride over here when I did that spell to stop your body from producing milk?” Evie nodded. “I’m sure there’s a spell that would make it start again. If magic can stop it, magic can start it.” 

“Breastmilk is the best thing for her.” Evie agreed. “Maybe we should talk to Fairy Godmother and see what she thinks. I’ll ask her in therapy tomorrow.” 

Carlos was carrying Ellie so that Evie and Mal could walk together, their hands linked between them. Ben and Carlos led the group, followed by Jay, and then the girls. Evie looked up as soon as she heard Ellie make a noise. She was surprised to see Ellie whining and reaching back towards them.

“Come on, little one. Let your moms spend time together.” Carlos urged her. Ellie started to cry.

“It’s okay, C.” Evie told him. They all stopped walking and Carlos brought her over. Ellie reached her arms towards Mal as she continued to cry.

“Hi, little princess.” Mal picked her up for the first time in three days. Ellie instantly quieted, cuddling against Mal’s chest and sticking her thumb in her mouth. 

“Wow, she really is like Evie.” Ben joked, earning laughs from the boys and eye rolls from the girls. 

Evie couldn’t help but smile as Mal grabbed her hand again. There were a lot of shitty things about her life, but her family made everything worth it.


	35. The New Normal

Mal could practically feel the exhaustion coming off of Evie in waves. Their walk from the health center back to the dorm room was slow and Evie held her hand the entire time. Mal couldn’t wait to just get into their room and get Evie to bed. 

Watching Evie’s exam had absolutely broken her heart, and it made her realize how much further her girlfriend had to go. She had made so much progress with her eating disorder, but her anxiety was off the charts, she hadn’t acknowledged her mother’s death, and she was still dealing with everything the Evil Queen had put her through. Mal knew that the most important thing right now was getting Evie to wind down enough that she could fall asleep without any nightmares. 

The five of them went up to the room together, Mal silently wishing that Ben would leave. She knew that Evie couldn’t fully relax if he was there. She was grateful for all that the prince had done to help them, but now they needed to be left alone. 

Jay opened up the dorm room door, allowing everyone else to go in. Mal was surprised to see Audrey walking around inside. 

“Hey guys!” she greeted. “Surprise!” 

Mal looked over and saw that her desk had been removed from the room and instead replaced with a crib. It was a nice wooden crib with light blue sheets. There was also a little changing table next to it with little purple drawers. 

“What is all this?” Evie asked. 

“We thought you would need some stuff so you can take care of Ellie.” Ben said, going over to stand next to his girlfriend. “I had Audrey just buy some basics, but I knew you would want to pick out a lot of it, so she just got what Fairy Godmother said you would need.” 

“There are diapers down here.” Audrey went over, opening one of the purple drawers. “This one has bibs and wipes, and there are onesies. I bought a couple warm pajama sets and outfits because I figured that you would make most of the clothes, Evie, but I didn’t know if you had anything for right now and it’s cold outside, so I thought she would need it. There are also baby shampoo, lotions, and bath toys in the bathroom, and I got her a couple other toys and books.” 

“Thank you, Audrey.” Evie said. “This is amazing.”

“How can we repay you?” Mal wondered. 

Audrey gave her a borderline dirty look. “You’re not going to repay me for anything. You do realize that the VK Exchange Program has a budget, right? We’re going to go shopping soon and you’re going to actually pick some things out and let that budget pay for it.” 

“You guys haven’t asked for anything since you’ve been here.” Ben joined in. “Let us help Ellie.” 

Mal looked over at Evie, who seemed a little overwhelmed. “Thank you for caring about her.” She finally said. 

“Of course. She’s pretty amazing.” Ben told her. 

“Can I hold her?” Audrey wondered. 

Mal glanced at Evie, who just shrugged as if she was saying it was her choice. She handed Ellie off to Audrey. 

“Hi Ellie! Evie, she is your twin. She’s gorgeous!” Audrey gushed. Ellie rewarded her with a smile. “I can’t believe you have a baby.” 

Mal braced herself, waiting for Audrey to say something rude or judgmental. But Audrey just continued to bounce the baby around with a smile. Knowing that her littlest girl was taken care of (and had Jay and Carlos watching over her like a hawk), she decided to take care of her other girl. 

“Come on, pretty baby.” She whispered. “Let’s sit.” She pulled Evie over to the couch. Mal sat first and then let Evie sit on her lap. 

“I don’t want to sleep.” Evie admitted. “If I sleep, I’m going to have a nightmare.” 

“I know. We need to get you calmed down first.” Mal said. “Jay?” she called out. 

The dark haired boy was at her side in a second. “What’s up?” 

“Can you go down to the cafeteria and get us some dinner?” 

“Nooo.” Evie protested.

“You ate all your meals at the health center, E. You’ve got this.” Jay encouraged. “Is there something special that you want?” Evie shook her head no. “Okay, I’ll see what I can find.” He left the dorm without another word. 

“Where did Jay go?” Ben wondered. 

“To grab dinner.” Mal answered as she untied Evie’s hair from its ponytail. She ran her fingers through the blue hair at the roots, scratching her nails over her scalp. Evie sighed appreciatively. 

“Audrey, we should go.” Ben said. “We’re here if you need anything, alright?” 

“Text me if you need something.” Audrey told Evie and Mal. “Literally anything you can think of, just let me know and I’ll bring it. I can’t even imagine how hard it would be to have a child at sixteen, but you’re not alone, Evie. We’re here to help.” 

“Thank you.” Evie smiled at her. 

“I’ll take her.” Carlos stepped in, holding out his arms for Ellie. 

“See you guys tomorrow.” Audrey waved as she and Ben walked out of the dorm. 

“Who would have thought that the girl who told you that you weren’t a real princess on our first day here would end up becoming one of our biggest allies?” Mal mused. She leaned down to kiss the tip of Evie’s nose. “Keep those eyes open, E. You need to eat before you do anything else.” 

Evie sighed. “I need to get back into my meal plan.” 

Mal couldn’t help the smile that spread across her face. “You’re fucking incredible, you know that? Even after all you’ve been through, you’re working on getting better. I’m so proud of you.” She kissed her forehead, cheeks, nose, lips, chin, everywhere until Evie started to giggle. 

“Audrey really came through.” Carlos said as he looked through the toys the princess had bought. “Ellie is going to love this stuff, aren’t you?” he tickled her. “So what’s the plan for tomorrow?” 

“I’m staying home with Ellie.” Evie answered. “We’re still going to have to figure out a plan for what to do with her while we’re at school, but for tomorrow, I’m staying here.” 

“Me too.” Mal agreed. 

Carlos gave her a look. “Remember what Ben said? We need to try to keep things as normal as possible so that people don’t try and argue against Evie keeping Ellie.” 

“You need to go to school, M.” Evie insisted. 

“Baby, you’re exhausted. There is no way you’re going to be up to dealing with Ellie on your own tomorrow.” 

“I’m going to be fine. I’ve done much harder things before.” 

Mal sighed. “Fine. So there are two big issues that we need to deal with as soon as possible. First off, what will we do with Ellie while we’re at school? Second, we need to figure out your meal plan, E.”

“For now, we should just take turns skipping school.” Carlos suggested. “That way Evie isn’t having to miss all the time. E can miss tomorrow, Mal can miss Thursday, I’ll stay home Friday, and then we’ll have Jay stay home next Monday. We can just keep rotating.” 

“That’s not a bad idea.” Mal said. “What do you think, babe?” 

“I think that’s the best we can do for now.” Evie agreed with a nod. 

“What about the meal plan?” Mal questioned. “Right now, you’re supposed to be eating breakfast and lunch in the cafeteria, and then making dinner. I think we can stick to that schedule. If it’s a day where you’re staying home, I can bring breakfast and lunch back to the room for you.” 

“But part of the meal plan was the socializing aspect.” Carlos reminded her. “If it’s a day where she won’t be in the cafeteria for breakfast or lunch, then she probably needs to at least have dinner in there.” 

“Good point.” Mal told him. “Or we could switch things up and always have dinner in the cafeteria and cook during breakfast instead.” 

“I like cooking dinner.” Evie chimed in nervously. Mal knew she hated talking about food, but she was proud of her for doing it anyway. “It’s a nice way to wind down. If I start cooking breakfast, I’m going to have to wake up even earlier than I already do, and I don’t think that’s realistic, especially with the baby.” 

“Also a good point.” Mal said. “Okay, then maybe you still come to the cafeteria for breakfast, even if you’re not going to school. I’ll bring lunch back to you. You can still make dinner and maybe we’ll try to invite a few people a couple times a week if we need to, like Ben and Audrey.”

“I like that idea.” Carlos stated. 

“Me too.” Evie agreed. “We can always switch things up if we need to.” 

Now was the next part of the meal plan. Mal wiggled out from underneath Evie and went over to her desk, grabbing a piece of paper and a pen. They sat together and started to plan out what Evie would be eating that week so they could get all of the necessary ingredients and make sure the cafeteria had what she wanted. Evie kept it pretty simple- most mornings, she either had yogurt, toast, or fruit with juice. For lunch, she would usually eat salad with grilled chicken and water, or occasionally a sandwich if she wanted to switch things up. For dinner, she would make a different meal each night. The nutritionist, Scott, had given her a book of simple recipes and helped her go through it and mark anything that she wanted to try or that looked like something she was interested in making. Then, she would write down which meal she was making each day with a list of ingredients so that it could all be purchased and put in their dorm floor’s fridge. 

Jay got back as they were planning Evie’s meals for the week. Now that Mal’s desk (aka the place where they usually spread out all their food) was gone, he had to put everything on the living room table instead. Carlos brought Ellie over and sat on the floor, holding her on his lap. Jay sat on the floor too. 

“Go ahead, E.” he encouraged. 

Mal smiled at the choices Jay had found. Many of the foods were ones that Evie liked, and she could tell he had gone to a lot of trouble to get them based on how long he was gone. Evie ended up choosing grilled chicken and put it on a plate, then scooped out a small portion of mashed potatoes, and then added pineapples.

“I’m done.” She stated. 

“You need a drink.” Mal reminded her. “Did you have a lot of water while you were in the health center?” Evie avoided her eyes, so that answered her question. “Let me grab you a bottle of water.” She got up, going over to their little mini fridge and pulling a water out. She passed it to Evie, then gave her a kiss on the top of her head. 

“Here _Daddy_ , take the baby so I can eat dinner.” Carlos joked, holding Ellie out towards Jay. 

Jay rolled his eyes. “Shut up, Carlos.” He took Ellie from him anyway. 

Mal reached down and picked Ellie up immediately after, giving her a kiss on the cheek. “I’ve got her. You guys eat.” 

“Seriously though, how long are we going to go along with the whole Jay being Ellie’s dad thing?” Carlos wondered. 

“Ben knows I’m not.” Jay informed them. 

Mal snorted. “Yeah, that was obvious from the minute we left the Isle. I doubt FG or Dr. Bren believe it either. 

“Let’s just tell everyone she’s a clone.” Carlos suggested. “She looks identical to E anyway.”

Evie pouted. “I think it’s best to just stay consistent right now. But I hate that people think I cheated on you.” She said, nudging Mal slightly. 

“We haven’t really told anyone how we got together or when.” 

“I told Audrey that we’ve been together since we were 12.” 

“Then just tell Audrey the truth. At this point, she knows a lot about us anyway. There’s no reason to keep things a secret from her.” 

“But what if she asks who her father is?” Evie asked quietly. “I’m not ready to talk about that with her.” 

“Tell her to fuck off and mind her own business.” Jay chimed in, causing the other three to roll their eyes. “What? I think it’s a good idea.” 

“Just eat your food.” Carlos said as he shoved his arm. 

Mal looked away from the boys and towards Ellie. She was content holding the little stuffed dragon Carlos had picked out from the toys Audrey bought, so Mal decided to take advantage of that and get her own food. The boys carried most of the conversation, keeping it light while Evie ate and Mal balanced eating and holding Ellie. 

Even though Evie was the first one to grab her food, she was the last one to finish eating, as usual. Jay and Carlos scarfed down their meals quickly and then started playing video games. Mal was finished next and then fed Ellie a jar of baby food. When Evie had enough to eat (which Mal noted was over half of her plate), she laid down on the couch, propping her feet up on Mal’s lap. Mal rested Ellie against Evie’s feet, using them to help hold her up so she could keep feeding her. Evie watched with a sleepy smile. 

“Alright, little one. It’s time to play.” Mal said. Carlos had laid out a blanket with a few times for Ellie to play with after she finished eating. “Here Carlos.” She passed the baby to him. 

“Show us what you can do, El.” Carlos put her on the blanket. 

“You know, eight months old is when some babies start to crawl.” Evie announced, though her eyes were closed. Mal started to rub her feet, earning a content sigh. 

“Really?”

“Mmhmm. I was reading about it at the health center. Dr. Rhodes gave me some baby books to read so I knew what to expect developmentally. She can already roll and sit on her own, obviously, and Jay and I saw her pull herself up to stand a couple times.” 

“Eves, don’t forget that we need to baby proof!” Jay said suddenly. 

“Oh yeah. When I was reading, it pointed out that now that she can pull herself up and she’ll start to be moving around, she could get into things. We don’t want to leave anything out that she could try and pull herself up on and then hurt herself, like if she grabbed on to a cord and then knocked a lamp down and it hit her. We need to make sure she can’t get into the bathroom cabinets either, or at least start shutting the bathroom door when no one is in there.” Mal pressed down particularly hard on her arches, getting back a satisfied moan in return. “Ellie could choke on anything that can fit inside a toilet paper tube, so we can’t leave anything small lying around. I’m going to need to work on organizing some of my designing stuff. I don’t want to leave any buttons or zippers around that she could get a hold of.” 

“We’ll figure out a new place to put them.” Mal promised. “What else did you learn?” 

“She should be sleeping 13-14 hours a day, including a morning and afternoon nap. Her sleep schedule has been a mess, which I’m guessing has to do with the fact that she’s in a new environment and around new people because I doubt that Uma and Harry just let her sleep whenever.” Evie explained. “This is also the age that separation anxiety sets in, so she might start being more difficult during bed time and if we leave. I’m hoping that won’t be as big of an issue since her crib is in the same room as ours. With eating, it’s okay to start doing some solid foods, like baby food or cereal, but she still needs to be getting milk. That’s what makes me the most worried; I have no idea what they did for milk on the Isle.” She sighed. “I wish I had thought to ask more questions when we were with Uma and Harry.” 

“There was a lot going on.” Mal soothed. “They kept her alive and that’s what matters. We can help her catch up with weight.” She reached out and grabbed Evie’s hand. “You want to take a bath?” 

“Yes please.” She said, nodding enthusiastically. Mal couldn’t help but smile as she leaned over to kiss her adorable girlfriend. 

“Can you guys watch Ellie for a little bit?” 

“We got her.” Carlos answered, reaching forward to turn the video game console off. He got down on the floor, laying on his stomach so he could be closer to Ellie’s level. Jay followed his lead without a complaint. Mal smiled; their boys were the best. 

Mal started the bath water and reached under the bathroom sink, grabbing a bottle of the lavender scented oil that Evie loved. She dumped some into the tub, then added some bubbles. As she put it back under the sink, she realized that what Evie said about baby proofing was true. She shoved everything that Ellie could possibly get into to the very back of the cabinet for now. 

“You have been so brave the past couple days.” Mal said as she came over and stood behind her girlfriend, pressing a kiss to Evie’s neck, then shoulder. “Let me take care of you now.” Evie nodded at her words. Mal undressed her for the second time that day, then stripped out of her own clothes. She scooped Evie up bridal style, earning a tiny squeal and then lowered herself into the bathtub, keeping Evie sideways on her lap. Mal felt all of her muscles instantly relax, and then Evie practically melted into her as they both enjoyed the borderline hot water. 

“This is nice.” Evie whispered, not needing to talk any louder because of how close they were. She leaned her head on Mal’s shoulder and reached a hand up to gently play with the ends of her hair. 

Mal kissed her forehead in response. “How are you feeling?” 

“The only thing I can think about is how tired I am.” Evie admitted. 

“I know you’re tired, but you are amazing, my princess.” Mal gave her a kiss, taking her time. Evie’s lips parted and Mal took advantage, trying to communicate her pride through her actions. When they separated, she rested their foreheads against each other. “You took care of our baby for three days while being locked in the health center. You got through an exam that would normally trigger you into having a panic attack. You came back and ate dinner.” Mal kissed her again. “But now, you don’t have to be strong anymore. I’m here and I’ve got you.” 

Evie nodded in response and then took a deep breath, her shoulders sagging as she let it out. She wrapped her arms around Mal shoulders, holding her close and burying her face in her neck. 

“Talk to me, E.” Mal urged. “You haven’t talked about what happened on the Isle.” She couldn’t see Evie’s face, but she heard the sharp intake of breath. “Evie…”

“I can’t right now.” Evie said, sitting up so they could make eye contact. “I need to focus on the good things. If I think about what happened, I’m going to break, Mal. Ellie needs me to be okay so we can get her settled in Auradon and make sure she is safe here. I can’t afford to fall apart.” 

“Bottling things up isn’t going to help.” Mal reminded her. “You need to talk about how you’re feeling.” 

“Really? Are you going to tell me how you feel?” 

Mal looked at her in confusion. “What are you talking about?” 

“You went through shit too, Mal. I know killing Tristan has to be weighing on you, and watching everything that I went through probably wasn’t easy. I know if it was the other way around, I would be devastated for you.” Evie ran her hands over her face and sighed. “I just don’t want to fight, okay? I know I can’t keep things in forever, but I need to for now. I need you to understand that.” 

Mal wanted to argue. She hated that Evie wouldn’t talk about the Isle because she knew that would lead to an even bigger breakdown. But she understood her point. Ellie did need them right now. 

“I get it.” She said. “I don’t like it, but I get it. I’m here though, okay? If you want to talk about anything, I’m always here.”

“I know.” Evie leaned forward, giving her a kiss. “Thank you, my love.” 

“Mmhmm.” She kissed her again. “Do you want to keep sitting here, or are you ready to wash your hair?” 

“I love sitting with you and the water feels so good, but I’m ready to sleep.” Evie admitted. 

Mal pulled the plug and they both stood as she turned on the shower. She and Evie washed their own hair and bodies quickly so that they could move faster. When she finished, Mal grabbed a big, fluffy towel and wrapped it around Evie. Then, she got a towel for herself. She watched as Evie moisturized, then they brushed their teeth together. 

The two girls reentered the bedroom, seeing that the boys were still playing with Ellie, who was rubbing her eyes tiredly. Mal hoped that she would fall asleep quickly and sleep through the night; Evie needed all the rest she could get. They went into the closet and changed into their usual pajamas. 

“I’m going to look at the clothes Audrey bought for Ellie.” Evie stated, going over to the bags she had set next to the changing table. 

“Were you able to give Ellie a bath at the health center?” 

“Mmhmm, she had one yesterday. I’ll give her another one tomorrow.” Evie pulled a thick, purple, long sleeved onesie out of the bag and grabbed a fresh diaper. “Will you bring her over here, M?” 

Mal went over and rescued Ellie from the boys, who were now pretending to make her new stuffed animals fight. She lifted her up and kissed her cheek. Her heart melted when Ellie just sighed and leaned into her. 

“I know you’re tired, sweet girl. Mama is going to get you ready for bed.” She told her. She set her down on the changing table and stepped back so Evie could work her magic. 

Evie stripped her out of the clothes she had on, then took off her dirty diaper. She cleaned her up and gave her a new diaper, then carefully guided her arms and legs into the proper places. She zipped the onesie all the way up and snapped the little button at the top. 

“Aren’t you so pretty?” she gushed, tapping her finger against Ellie’s nose, making the little girl break out a tired smile. She ran her hand over Ellie’s headful of dark hair, smoothing down the wild strands. “Are you tired?” 

Ellie pulled herself up into a sitting position and reached out for Evie. Mal smiled as Evie picked up the child, holding her close. Ellie started to yank at Evie’s t-shirt. 

“I know, Ellie. I’m sorry.” She bounced her gently. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“She knows that she used to get milk from me. The whole time we were at the health center, she was yanking on my shirt.” Evie told her as she carefully removed Ellie’s hands, pressing kisses against the tops of them. 

“You need to ask Fairy Godmother about that spell tomorrow at your therapy appointment.” Mal reminded her. 

“I will.” Evie’s voice was heavier now and her eyelids were starting to droop. “Sleep now?”

Mal smiled. “Yes baby, we can sleep now.” She gave Evie a quick kiss and then grabbed her hand, leading her over to the bed. “What are you doing with Ellie? Do you want her in the crib or in bed with us?” 

“With us for now.” Evie answered. “Can you still hold me?”

“Whatever you need.”

Before they got into bed, Mal went over to the dresser where she had set Evie’s anxiety medication. She read the label, seeing that Evie would now have to take two pills every night. She shook them into her hand and grabbed Evie’s abandoned bottle of water. She came over to her girlfriend and handed her both wordlessly; she swallowed them without protest, proving just how tired she really was. 

Mal laid down first, then Evie sat on the bed next to her. She passed Ellie to her, letting her lay on Mal’s chest. Then, Evie laid down, putting her own head on Mal’s chest across from Ellie. She put a hand on Mal’s stomach and tangled her left leg with Mal’s legs. Mal put one hand on Ellie’s back to make sure she didn’t move and used the other to run her fingers against the exposed skin on Evie’s lower back from where her t-shirt had ridden up. 

“Sweet dreams.” She whispered as both of her girls drifted off to sleep. 

\-----

When Evie woke up, she instantly knew that she wasn’t ready to face the world yet. Today would be their first “normal” day in Auradon since bringing Ellie over and honestly, Evie wasn’t looking forward to it. 

She felt her pillow start to move and frowned. She opened her eyes, looking at Mal with a glare. 

“Sorry, Princess.” Mal kissed her forehead and slid out from underneath her, Elie still in her arms. “Do you want the baby or should I put her in the crib?” Evie held her hands out wordlessly, wrapping her daughter in her arms. 

“Why are you getting up?” Evie questioned, her voice still raspy from sleep. 

“It’s time to get ready for school.” She studied her. “What are you thinking about breakfast? Are you going to come down, or should I bring something back?” 

“It’s too early for this shit.” Evie complained, shutting her eyes again and burying her face in the pillow. She heard Mal laugh and then the bed moved, signaling that she had gotten up. 

Evie felt herself drifting back to sleep. She could hear her friends’ quiet voices (she guessed that the boys had spent the night last night, and she wouldn’t be surprised if they stayed until everyone adjusted to Ellie being in Auradon) and their usual sounds of getting ready. Just as she was about to fall back asleep, she felt a hand on her waist and lips against her neck. 

“Cafeteria or room?” Mal asked.

Evie had no idea what she was talking about. “Huh?” 

She could practically hear the smile in Mal’s voice. “Breakfast, baby.” 

“I don’t wanna get up.” Evie complained. 

“I’ll bring something back then.” Mal kissed her neck again, then her cheek. “I’ll be back soon.” 

“Have a good day, E.” Carlos called out. 

“Text us if you need anything.” Jay added. Then, the room was silent. 

If there was one thing in the world Evie hated, it was being alone. Technically, she had Ellie, but now that her friends were gone, she didn’t know if she would be able to sleep. She hated sleeping without having someone there to watch over her in case something happened. 

Evie smiled as she looked down at her daughter. She couldn’t believe that Gabriella was in Auradon. This was all she had wanted from the moment she accepted that she was pregnant. Now, Ellie would have a chance at a normal life. She wouldn’t constantly have to look over her shoulder or worry about getting hurt. 

Ellie stirred slightly, causing Evie to stroke her cheek. “Shhh, you’re alright, baby.” She whispered. “Mama’s here.” 

She didn’t know how long she laid there for, just staring down at her child. It must have been a while because she heard the door open. 

“You’re up?” Mal questioned, putting the yogurt, fruit, and juice she brought down on the table next to the bed. She sat on the edge behind Evie, leaning over her so they could see each other. 

“I can’t sleep without you.” Evie admitted. 

“Try your best to do me a favor today, okay? When Ellie sleeps, you need to sleep. I know that you’re still exhausted, babe. Don’t push yourself too much.” 

“I won’t.” Evie agreed. “I’m going to try really hard to get Ellie onto a feeding and sleep schedule.”

“That’s good.” Mal brushed the blue hair out of her face. “If you need anything, text me and I’ll be right here.” She grabbed Evie’s hand, kissing the top of it.

“I’ll be okay, M.” Evie said. “I took care of her on the Isle when you guys all went to school, remember?”

“I know, but things are different now. You’re not in this by yourself and you don’t have to hide.” She stroked her thumb over Evie’s hand. “How are you feeling about letting everyone know about Ellie?”

“It’s scary.” Evie admitted. “She spent most of her life hidden away, either in the hideout or with Harry and Uma. She’s never gotten to experience open air or being in a place with a bunch of people. I don’t want anything bad to happen to her, but she doesn’t deserve to live a life where she’s locked away.” 

“If you want to wait a little bit while you’re still getting comfortable, I get that. But I agree with you that we shouldn’t hide her forever.” Mal said. 

Evie glanced over at the clock. “Don’t you need to go? You’re going to be late to class.” 

Mal looked too, groaning at the number. “Are you sure you don’t want me to stay?”

“Go, Mal.” Evie urged. “Don’t forget to bring back my homework.” 

“Nerd.” Mal said affectionately, leaning down to give her girlfriend a quick kiss. “Take care of our girl, eat breakfast, text me if you need me.” She listed. “I’ll bring you back lunch today.” 

Evie hummed in acknowledgement, pouting her lips so Mal would give her another kiss. Mal gave her one, then a second, then a third. 

“I love you.” She whispered. 

“Love you.” Evie repeated, leaning up to give her one last kiss. “Now go.” 

Mal stared at her the whole time she walked towards the door. “I swear, leaving you behind is like ripping out half my heart.” 

Evie rolled her eyes at her dramatics. “You’ll be back in three hours with lunch, M. I’m sure you’ll be fine.” Mal laughed and finally left the room.

Now that she was alone, Evie figured it was time to tackle the day. She got out of bed, pulling the blankets down to the bottom so that there was no chance they could get near Ellie’s face (she had read a lot about babies suffocating during her pregnancy and she was terrified of it). She decided she needed to do something for herself first. 

Evie walked into the bathroom, grimacing at her reflection. She didn’t even know the last time she had done her usual beauty routine. She started off by washing her face, then pulled her makeup bag out from under the counter. Evie went through each step slowly to make sure that she didn’t forget anything. Once she was satisfied with her makeup, she moved on to her hair. She decided to leave it wavy and loose today, so all she had to do was run a brush through it. She brushed her teeth, then walked out of the bathroom and over to the closet. 

Evie picked out a simple outfit- leggings, a skirt, and a sweater. Now that she was dressed, she felt a little bit better about herself. She went over to the table where Mal had left her breakfast. 

She knew that she didn’t really have to eat it. She could just throw it away and no one would ever find out, but she wanted to do better. She wanted to be healthy and to take care of her body so she could set a good example for her daughter. She ate all of her yogurt, half the fruit, and drank about half the juice. When she was finished, she threw away all the dishes. 

Next, Evie decided to get Ellie’s breakfast ready. She wanted to be prepared for when the little girl woke up, so she made her bottle and then picked an outfit for the day (it was a thick pair of gray leggings and a pink sweater that Audrey had bought, along with a tiny pair of baby socks). Then, she sat down to catch up on some homework. Fairy Godmother had given her and Jay’s assignments to Dr. Bren, so Evie had done a little bit at the health center, but she hadn’t finished it all. As soon as she finished up her chemistry and English work, she heard Ellie cry. 

“Hi, little one.” She greeted, going over and sitting next to her daughter. “Good morning.” 

Ellie reached out for her and Evie scooped her up. She carried her over to the changing table and put a new diaper on her. She decided to wait on the outfit; she wanted to bathe her first. 

“Come on, let’s go get your bottle.” Evie sat down on the bed, cradling Ellie carefully in her arms. She stuck the bottle into her mouth, smiling as her girl instantly started to suck the formula down. “I’m so sorry I left you behind, my love. I promise you that we will never be apart again.” 

It didn’t take long for Ellie to finish her bottle. As soon as she was done, Evie stripped her out of her pajamas and took her into the bathroom. She put a little water in the bathtub and then kneeled in front of it, letting Ellie splash in the water with her new toys. 

Evie grabbed her phone, snapping a picture of Ellie’s happy face. She sent it immediately to her girlfriend. 

_From: Mal  
God, she’s perfect. She seriously melts my heart. _

_From: Mal  
Everything is good so far? _

_To: Mal  
Yeah, we’re fine. Breakfast went well and you can see she loves bath time! _

_From: Mal  
I miss you guys already. _

Evie couldn’t help but smile at Mal’s message. She might be the scariest VK on the Isle, but there was no doubting her love for Evie and Ellie.

After she let her play for a while, Evie washed Ellie’s hair and body. She wrapped her up in a towel and carried her over to her changing table. Evie changed her diaper again and then got her dressed for the day. 

“Alright, Miss Ellie. What are we going to do now?” she asked. Evie carried her over to the play area Carlos had set up in the living room. “Do you want to show me how you play with your toys?” she sat down on the carpet, putting Ellie on the blanket. 

They played for a while, Evie watching in amazement at all the new things Ellie could do. She didn’t think she would ever get tired of staring at her daughter. She realized that she had let Ellie sleep for too long, and it probably wasn’t good to put her down for a morning nap since it was nearing lunchtime, so she continued to play with her. 

It wasn’t long before she heard the door open. Evie glanced over her shoulder, smiling when she saw her girlfriend. Ellie immediately started to squeal when saw Mal. 

“You see her, don’t you? Is that your Mommy?” Evie asked, tickling Ellie’s foot. 

“Hi Ellie Belly!” Mal scooped her up, giving her a loud kiss on the cheek. She reached a hand out to Evie, using it to pull her up. “Hey baby.” She gave her a kiss on the cheek too. 

“Hi.” Evie smiled. 

“Are you guys hungry? I have lunch.” Mal let go of Evie so she could grab the bag of food she had put down on the table. She opened it up, passing Evie a salad and water and getting out chicken tenders and fries for herself. “Are you hungry too, El? Do you want something to eat?” she looked at Evie. “What did she have for breakfast?”

“Just a bottle. She could probably use some solid food for lunch. I didn’t put her down for a morning nap because I waited too long. I’ll have to start getting her up earlier in the morning.” 

Mal set Ellie down on the couch next to Evie and went over to grab a jar of baby food. She brought it over and sat on Ellie’s other side. 

“I can feed her, M.” Evie offered. “You don’t have that much time before you have to get back to class.” 

“I want to.” Mal insisted. She opened the jar of baby food. “Alright Ellie, are you ready for your peas? Doesn’t that sound so yummy?” she got out a spoonful and held it up to the baby’s lips. Ellie opened her mouth, accepting the bite without an issue. 

“You’re so soft.” Evie commented with a smile. “Can you imagine if the other kids on the Isle saw you right now?”

“They would understand because Ellie is the most perfect baby on the planet. She could make anyone soft.” Mal fed her another bite, then took a bite of her own lunch. “You look gorgeous today, by the way. Even though I love it when you don’t wear makeup and you look just as perfect then.” Evie blushed and smiled at her girlfriend’s words. “What have you guys been up to?” 

“I finished my homework while she was still sleeping, so at least I’m caught up on all the past work. She loved playing in the bath, it was the cutest thing ever. Then we just sat down in here and she’s been playing with her toys.” Evie answered between bites of her salad. “I’ve been thinking about what Audrey and Ben said. We really should make a list of things Ellie needs. I want her to have a highchair, and she would love some more toys, plus we don’t have enough clothes. I want to design some, but I can’t leave her alone since we haven’t baby proofed.” 

“I’m going to talk to Ben about that today, baby proofing can’t wait.” Mal told her. “Talk to Audrey and figure out if there’s a day you guys can go shopping together.” 

“Okay.” Evie agreed. She took another bite of her salad. 

“How’s your lunch?” 

Evie shrugged. “It’s fine.” She didn’t know if she would ever enjoy eating, but the salad didn’t taste bad. 

As soon as Ellie finished eating, it was time for Mal to go. She started to clean up. 

“Don’t worry about it, I’ll clean it up.” Evie reassured her. 

“Thank you, Pretty Girl.” Mal leaned in and kissed her. “Are you gonna take a nap now?” 

Evie nodded. “I think so. I want to make Ellie some more clothes, but I’m so tired.” 

“Then rest, baby. Like I said, you don’t need to push yourself.” Mal kissed her again. “So we’ll meet here after school and I’ll take care of Ellie while you go to therapy. Then we can meet back here again so you can keep Ellie while I go to Tourney.” 

“You’ll be late to practice.” Evie reminded her. It took a few minutes to walk to the Tourney field. 

“That doesn’t matter.” 

“What if we just meet at the field instead?” Evie suggested. “We should get there at about the same time and then you won’t miss anything.” 

“Are you sure?” 

“Mmhmm.”

“That’s fine with me if you don’t care.” Mal said, giving Evie one last kiss and then kissing Ellie’s forehead. “Ugh, I hate school. I want to stay here.” 

“You don’t have much longer. Only three more classes.” Evie stated as they walked towards the door. “Hurry up so you’re not late.” 

Mal passed Ellie over to her mother. “See you later, E.” 

“Bye, M.” she replied, watching her girlfriend as she walked away. 

Evie finished cleaning up from lunch and then she figured it was nap time. She grabbed a bottle and sat down on the bed with Ellie. She stuck it into her mouth as the little girl’s tiny hand wrapped around a chunk of her hair. Her eyes shut slowly as she drifted off. 

“There you go, my love.” Evie whispered. “Sweet dreams, little one.” She kissed her forehead and took the bottle out of her mouth once Ellie finally fell asleep. She scooted down in the bed, keeping Ellie on her chest as she went to sleep too. 

\-----

When Evie woke up, she felt fingers running through her hair. She opened her eyes in confusion, seeing that Mal was sitting next to her. She could still feel Ellie’s weight on her chest. 

“Hey baby girl. You need to get up.” Mal urged. “You’re going to be late to therapy.” 

Evie groaned. “What time is it?”

“Four.” 

Evie slid out of bed, putting Ellie down as she moved. She rushed into the bathroom to check her appearance. Luckily, she still looked okay. She smoothed her hair down and then came back into the bedroom. 

“I can’t believe I slept that long.” 

“We’re gonna have to start setting alarms or something.” Mal said. “Do you want us to walk you there?”

“No, I’m okay. Ellie needs to get up soon though, if she keeps sleeping, she’ll never fall asleep tonight.” Evie slung her bag over her shoulder, then leaned down to give Mal a kiss. “I’ll see you in a little bit.” She hurried out of the room. 

By the time Evie got to Fairy Godmother’s office, she was seven minutes late. She came in, her breath coming in pants from practically running the whole way there. 

“Sorry I’m late.” She told FG and Dr. Bren before taking her usual seat, letting her bag slide to the floor. 

“Is everything alright, dear?” Fairy Godmother asked. 

“Yes. Why do you ask?” 

“Because you weren’t in Goodness class today, and then now you were late to therapy.” 

“I didn’t go to school today.” Evie admitted. “I had to stay home with Ellie.” 

Fairy Godmother gave her a concerned look. “Evie, you can’t miss school every day. You need to think of a better solution for what to do with Ellie while you are in class.” 

“My friends brought all my assignments home, and Audrey is even bringing my fashion design homework. Mal, the boys, and I are going to take turns staying home and watching Ellie. I promise we’ll stay up on our work and help each other. I know it’s not ideal, but it’s going to have to work for now.” 

Fairy Godmother sighed. “Just for now, okay?”

Dr. Bren took over the conversation. “Evie, how are you doing now that you have been released from the health center?” 

“I’ve been fine.” She answered. Of course, she had such deep guilt and fear inside of her that she felt physically ill if she thought about it for too long, but she would just keep pushing that down. “Nothing major has happened, and Ellie has been okay.” 

“While you were in the health center, we noticed that you were having nightmares. Would you like to share what you were dreaming about?” 

_“You stupid, foolish girl.” The Evil Queen snarled, her hand around Evie’s throat. “Don’t you know that I own you?”_

_All of a sudden, she let go of Evie. She turned around and grabbed Mal instead._

_“No, Mother!” Evie screamed. “Please! I’ll do anything, I swear. Please let her go.”_

_“Look at you, so weak!” EQ spat. “I will kill everything you love, you ungrateful slut!”_

“Evie?” Fairy Godmother said, her tone making it obvious that it wasn’t the first time she had said her name. 

“I don’t remember.” Evie lied. “Nightmares aren’t a new thing for me. I don’t always remember what happens during them.” She dug her fingernails into her palms, just praying that this would end soon. 

\-----

Fairy Godmother could see the anxiety coming off of Evie in waves. She hadn’t been allowed to visit her when she was in the health center, but Dr. Bren had kept her in the loop. She could tell just from looking at her that Evie was not in the best place mentally, but it was obvious that she was trying very hard to put up a front that she was fine. 

She watched the way Evie’s eyes became unfocused when she was asked about her nightmare. She had to call her name three times before she answered, saying that she didn’t remember the dream. Fairy Godmother would bet her magic wand that Evie knew exactly what had happened. 

“Evie, I would like to talk to you about what happened on the Isle.” Dr. Bren stated gently. FG had to give her some credit; her tone and compassion when speaking to Evie had changed a lot, and the headmistress believed that was part of the reason they had gotten her to open up so much about her eating disorder. 

FG looked at Evie, whose eyes were darting around the room, focusing on anything but the two women in front of her. 

“Okay.” She responded. “I already told both of you what happened, so I don’t know what else there is to say about it.” 

“Well let’s start with your brother.” Dr. Bren said. “You never mentioned to anyone that he existed. Did the two of you grow up together?”

“No, he was raised by his father and I was raised by my mother. She didn’t want anything to do with Harry, unless it was convenient for her.” 

“Did you have a good relationship with him?”

“I didn’t really know him when I was little, but as we got older, we started to spend more time together. We were in opposite crews so we couldn’t be around each other that much, but we saw each other when we could.” 

“What was the consequence of spending time with another crew?” 

“For me? Nothing.” Evie said as if it was obvious. 

“Why is that?” Fairy Godmother wondered. 

“Because Mal is the leader of my crew. She wouldn’t hurt me over seeing my brother.” 

“For a different person though, what would the consequence be?” 

“Some people got jumped, or you were in debt to the rest of the crew, or you might even be kicked out. It depends on how serious the betrayal was. That’s one of the most important rules on the Isle- you don’t betray your crew.” 

“You seeing Harry didn’t count as betrayal?” 

“Since our crews didn’t have an alliance, technically yes, but Mal would never let someone retaliate against me, and Uma wouldn’t hurt Harry either.” Evie explained.

“How did you feel when you saw Harry again?” Dr. Bren asked. 

“I was glad that he’s okay, but I mostly cared about seeing Ellie, so I didn’t have that much of a chance to talk to him.” 

“What happened after you got to Harry’s house?” 

FG felt a cold chill run down her spine at the completely blank look on Evie’s face. “I killed my mother.” She didn’t know what she was expecting, if she thought Evie would scream or breakdown or cry. The blue haired girl sat perfectly still, her eyes darting back and forth between FG and Dr. Bren, as if she was reading their reactions. 

“What made you kill your mother?” Dr. Bren questioned. Fairy Godmother didn’t know if that was the best question to ask since they both already heard the story from Evie. 

“She held a knife to my throat and threatened my daughter.” 

“Who all did the Evil Queen threaten?” 

“Me, Ellie, and Harry.” 

Fairy Godmother was a little surprised by that. “She didn’t threaten Mal?” 

Evie shook her head. “That would have been a death sentence.” 

“From who?” Dr. Bren asked. 

“Maleficent. She might not get along with Mal, but she wouldn’t let someone threaten her. That would be seen as weakness, and she would have probably killed the Evil Queen, then punished Mal.” Evie’s eyes widened, as if she suddenly realized she let too much information slip. Fairy Godmother had noticed that all four of the VKs were very protective over each other’s secrets, so she knew Evie didn’t like the fact that she had just brought up something personal about Mal. 

“There weren’t any threats towards Ben, Jay, or Carlos either?” Fairy Godmother said, trying to change the subject. 

“No. She doesn’t care about any of them. She wanted to punish me.”

FG couldn’t help the overwhelming sadness she felt. When Dr. Bren told her she was expecting Evie to regress, she had thought maybe there was a hope of her keeping the progress she had made in therapy. But after hearing her detached tone and seeing the blank expression, FG knew that Dr. Bren’s predictions were true. 

“I want to switch gears a little bit here, Evie.” Dr. Bren announced. “I know that you mentioned that a lot of your eating troubles stem from the way your mother treated you as a child. When you were back on the Isle, did she mention anything about your weight?” 

Evie let out a dry laugh. “Calling me fat is her favorite insult, along with…” she trailed off, clearly not willing to give up that information. FG gave Dr. Bren a look, both of them silently agreeing not to push her any further with that. 

“Can I ask you something that I’ve been wondering for a while?” Dr. Bren said. 

“You’re going to anyway.” Evie mumbled. 

“If you need a break or she hits a boundary, you can always say so, Evie.” FG reminded her. 

“What’s the question?” 

“After you told Fairy Godmother and I that you had a child, we had that meeting with King Adam, Queen Belle, and Prince Ben. You agreed to give your daughter away to a good family. As you were leaving, you said something. Do you remember what it was?” 

Evie nodded. “I said she would have a real family instead of a fucked up 16 year old dyke with an eating disorder.” 

Fairy Godmother flinched at the harsh words. She knew Evie was kind and sweet and caring, so it hurt knowing that those words were obviously ones that had been flung at her as an insult. 

“We’ve never talked about your sexuality.” Dr. Bren studied her. “Do you know how you would identify yourself?” 

“What do you mean?” Evie asked. 

“Lesbian, bisexual, pansexual…” 

“I don’t know.” Evie answered. “I’ve only ever been in one relationship and that’s with Mal.” 

“But you were with a man at some point, right? Otherwise you wouldn’t have Ellie.” 

Evie’s eyes went to her lap. “Boundary.” 

Dr. Bren nodded. “Okay, we don’t have to talk about that. The point that I’m getting at is I want to know if you are comfortable with your sexuality. You’ve said that your mother wanted you to find a prince and have a perfect life. How did she react when she found out you were with Mal?” 

Evie shook her head and Fairy Godmother saw tears in her eyes. She hated that Evie was crying, but she was glad that the hard exterior she was giving off was finally broken. “I don’t want to talk anymore.” 

“It’s alright, dear.” Fairy Godmother soothed. She reached out and grabbed Evie’s hand and squeezed it. “We don’t have to discuss that anymore. Why don’t we focus on something good? Where is Ellie right now?” 

“With Mal.” Evie responded, her voice cracking slightly as she sniffled, trying to keep the tears in. 

“Doesn’t she have Tourney practice today?”

“Yes, I’m meeting her there to take Ellie.” Evie answered, then took a couple deep breaths. FG was proud of her for trying to regulate her emotions. “I actually have a question for you.” 

“What is it?” FG wondered. 

“At the health center yesterday, Dr. Rhodes told us that Ellie is underweight. On the Isle, she was eating whatever foods Uma and Harry could find and smash up. After I gave birth, Carlos made a breast pump and I gave them all my extra breastmilk, but it wouldn’t have even lasted them a month. I need your help with making it so I can breastfeed again.” 

That was something that Fairy Godmother hadn’t considered. There had been no clues whatsoever that Evie had carried a child when she first came to Auradon. “How did they miss the fact that you were still producing milk during your first visit at the health center?”

Evie bit her lip. “I wasn’t producing milk.” 

“How?” 

“As soon as we crossed a bridge and Mal’s magic came, she did a spell so that my body wouldn’t make milk anymore. We knew that we had to hide it.” 

Fairy Godmother was amazed. Any normal teenager’s first spell would be something selfish or crazy, but Mal’s first had been stopping her girlfriend from being able to breastfeed. It just went to show how much the purple haired girl cared about Evie. 

“If there is a spell to stop me from making milk, is there one that could start it again?” 

FG considered it. “I’m sure there is. Why didn’t Mal just perform the spell herself?”

“Because we wanted to talk to you about it first. I want to make sure it’s safe.” Evie looked to Dr. Bren. “I didn’t think about it until now, but how would my anxiety medicine affect breastfeeding?”

“That’s a very good question. You should be safe to keep taking your medicine, but let me call Dr. Rhodes and double check with her.” Dr. Bren stood, excusing herself from the room so she could make the phone call. 

Fairy Godmother looked at the girl sitting across from her. “I’m proud of you, Evie. You are really stepping up. I can already tell you are an amazing mother.” 

Evie shook her head. “I’m just doing what I have to do. I want Ellie to be safe and healthy. I don’t want her to be dealing with the same issues that I am.” 

“She won’t be with a support system like you and Mal.”

They sat in awkward silence for the next couple minutes. Fairy Godmother watched Evie, seeing the way her leg was bouncing and that her hands were clenched into fists. She wished she knew what to say to calm her down, but she didn’t. 

Dr. Bren came back into the room and told them that it would be okay for Evie to breastfeed again.

FG looked at the teen. “I can brew a potion and drop it off to your dorm while you are at Tourney practice. Tomorrow, you can let me know how it goes. I will see you tomorrow, right?”

“Yes, Mal is staying home tomorrow.” Evie said quietly. “Thank you.” 

“Of course, dear. If you don’t have anything else to say, you can head over to Tourney practice.” 

Evie stood without another word and left the room. 

Fairy Godmother sighed. “Well that was terrible.” 

Dr. Bren nodded in agreement. “She actually talked a little more than I thought she would, but it’s obvious that she’s struggling. We’re just going to have to stay on her and make sure we keep pushing until she opens up.”

FG sighed. “I just wish I could make things better for her.” 

\-----

When Evie was running to therapy, she didn’t realize how cold it was. Now that she was actually walking and paying attention to her surroundings, she realized she should have put on a few more layers. She had on a coat, but she was still freezing. 

Evie had hated every minute of therapy and now, her stomach was feeling bubbly. She knew that the only thing that would help her right now is seeing Mal. 

She got to the field right as practice was about to start. Mal, Jay, Carlos, and Ben were all talking near the bleachers, Ellie in Jay’s arms. Before the others had a chance to see her, Ellie made eye contact. 

“Mama!” she called out. 

“You’re right, smarty. There’s Mama.” Jay said as he turned so she could see Evie better. As soon as she was close enough, Ellie reached out towards her and nearly fell. “Whoa there, slow down, little princess.” 

“She doesn’t seem to like her father very much.” Carlos joked, earning a punch in the shoulder from Jay, an eyeroll from Mal, and a laugh from Ben. Evie took Ellie, giving her a kiss on the cheek. 

Coach blew the whistle then, signaling that it was time for practice to start. Evie started to walk over to sit on the bleachers. 

“Hey Princess.” Mal greeted, wrapping her arms around Evie’s waist and giving her a quick hug. “I knew it was a little cold, so I put one of Ellie’s pajama onesies over the outfit you had on her, then her coat, and I brought her a blanket.” Mal shifted off her own coat. “Here, put this on.” She held it out and Evie slid her arms into the coat, sighing at both the warmth and being wrapped in Mal’s scent. “How was therapy?”

“You better go or you’ll get in trouble.” Evie reminded her. 

“I don’t care about that. Are you alright?”

“I will be.” Evie gave her a reassuring smile.

“Did Fairy Godmother say anything about the breastfeeding thing?”

“She’s making a potion and she said it’ll be in our room after practice.” Evie gave her a look. “Seriously, get out there. We’re pretending to be normal, remember?” 

Mal leaned down and gave her a kiss, then ran out onto the field. Evie made sure that the blanket was secured around Ellie, and the eight month old didn’t seem to be cold. She held her close just in case, trying to share body heat. 

As practice went on, the temperature dropped. Ellie seemed okay, but Evie’s teeth were starting to chatter. Normally, she would draw or do homework during practice, but she couldn’t with the baby on her lap. She settled instead for talking quietly to her about the different things she saw and passing her different toys from the bag Mal had dropped by her feet. She heard Coach call for a water break. 

A moment later, Mal ran over, kneeling in front of her. She touched her cheek, wincing at the coolness of her skin. “You don’t have to stay, Princess. You guys are freezing. Why don’t you go back to the dorm and play with Ellie for a while? I can make dinner tonight.” 

Evie had thought about leaving. She knew that the responsible thing right now would be to go back to the dorm so that her and Ellie could warm up. But her heart was aching and her stomach was still bubbling; she couldn’t bear the thought of being by herself.

“I don’t want to be alone.” She admitted quietly. “I was alone all day while you guys were at class. I just…I feel weird today. I want to be where you are.” She looked up at her girlfriend, wondering what her reaction would be. 

She wasn’t expecting Mal to lean down and give her a long kiss. Then, she rested their foreheads together. “You are so fucking important to me, you know that?” 

Evie raised an eyebrow at her with a small smile. “You shouldn’t cuss in front of the baby.” 

“Shit, sorry.” Mal said with a smirk, making Evie laugh out loud. “God, I love your laugh. It’s my favorite sound in the world.” 

Evie rolled her eyes. “My laugh is horrible.” 

“Nope.” Mal kissed her. She touched Ellie’s cheek. “She’s warmer than you are.” 

“That’s because you layered her up. I didn’t know how cold it was before I ran out the door for therapy.”

Coach blew the whistle, telling the players that they needed to get back on the field. “I’ll be right back.” Mal said before running off. 

Evie was confused what she meant by that until she saw Mal go over to where their water bottles and bags were set. Evie saw that she was grabbing both Jay’s and Carlos’s coats. 

“Here.” Mal ran back up the bleachers. “Stand up. The metal gets cold.” Evie stood, letting Mal spread Carlos’s coat out on the bleacher below her. Evie sat back down and was surprised when a moment later, Mal shoved Jay’s hat on her head. 

“It’s going to ruin my hair.” Evie complained. 

“You look perfect no matter what and besides that, I don’t want you to freeze.” Mal pulled the hat down until it covered her ears, then wrapped Jay’s coat around Evie and Ellie as a blanket. “Better?”

“Much.” Evie smiled. “Thanks, M.” 

“Anything for you.” Mal gave her a kiss. Right after, they heard Coach yell her name. 

“Go, you can’t get in trouble.” Evie said. Mal ran off to the field. 

Evie couldn’t deny that she was warmer now. She huddled closer to Ellie, pressing a kiss against her baby’s forehead. She could see that her eyes were focused on the field. 

“Do you see Mommy, little one?” she asked. “Mommy takes such good care of us. We’re lucky to have her. She’s always going to be here for you, Ellie. Even if one day, I can’t take care of you anymore, you’ll always have Mommy, and Jay and Carlos.” 

Practice didn’t last for that much longer. Evie was relieved when she heard Coach finally call out for everyone to start packing up. Mal grabbed her bag and water bottle and she was back over to them in a second. 

“Hold Ellie so I can give you your coat back.” Evie told her. 

Mal did take Ellie, but then shook her head. “No, you keep it. I’m hot and sweaty from running around anyway.” she put an arm around Evie’s waist, pulling her close. She kissed her cheek. 

“I can carry your Tourney bag so you can hold Ellie.” Evie offered. 

Mal gave her a look that clearly said that wasn’t going to happen. Evie shook her head at her stubbornness; Mal refused to let her do anything that she claimed could hurt Evie, like carrying a heavy bag.

Jay and Carlos joined them a moment later. Evie handed both of their coats back so she didn’t have to carry them, then leaned into Mal’s side as they walked back towards the dorm. 

“Are you cooking or do you want me to?” Mal wondered.

“Do you mind?”

“Of course not.” Mal smiled at her reassuringly. “Whatever you need, my princess.” 

Evie sighed contently. As long as she had Mal, things would be okay. 

\-----

Mal could tell that something must have happened in therapy to make Evie’s mood switch. She seemed okay when Mal had stopped by for breakfast and lunch, so the only possible explanation was that Fairy Godmother or Dr. Bren had said something to Evie in therapy that made her upset. 

After practice, the boys had gone back to their room to shower and grab clothes so they could stay the night in the girls’ dorm. Mal and Evie walked back to their dorm and dropped off their coats and bags. They found a light pink potion waiting along with a note from Fairy Godmother, saying to drink the whole thing and it would go into effect within a few hours, making it so Evie’s body could produce breastmilk again. The note also so that it might not be a lot at first, but the best way to build up her supply was to have Ellie latch on. Evie drank the potion and then they went to the kitchen with Ellie so Mal could make dinner. 

The kitchen area of the dorm was nice and rarely used. Many of the Auradon kids didn’t have a lot of interest in cooking when they could just go to the cafeteria instead, so the VKs rarely ran into anyone else when they went to cook. According to Evie’s meal plan, they were having grilled chicken, asparagus, baked potatoes, and pudding for dessert. All of the ingredients were already put away for them, so Mal just had to find what she needed and then follow the recipe. 

Mal wasn’t nearly as good of a cook as Evie. It was kind of ironic that Evie was the best cook out of the four of them, but absolutely hated food. It was all another part of her mother’s training- a queen should know how to take care of her husband in every way he could possibly need. Even though Mal didn’t have as much practice, her meals usually came out pretty good. 

Mal started to pull ingredients out while Evie sank down on the floor, her back against the cabinets. She held Ellie on her lap, who was babbling away happily. She brought a few toys with them and passed one to the baby, who instantly started to chew on it. 

The purple haired girl put the potatoes into the microwave, then got started on the chicken and asparagus. Once everything was cooking, she looked at her girlfriend. Evie was staring forward and obviously thinking about something. 

Mal crouched down, then gently grabbed Evie’s chin so she could turn her to face her. She leaned in and gave her a light kiss, then a second one, and then a third. “You are my entire world, do you know that?” Evie nodded silently. “When you’re ready to talk, I’m here.” She nodded again. 

“How was school today?” Evie asked. 

Mal would much rather talk about what was bothering Evie than about her day, but she was just happy that at least her girlfriend was speaking. “It wasn’t too bad. Boring, as usual. But art class was fun…” she started explaining their new project, just hoping to keep Evie engaged. She was happy to see her nodding along and inserting her own comments when necessary. 

The food didn’t take much longer to cook. The boys got to the kitchen right as it was all finished. They all made their plates and then went to sit at the table nearby. Evie was still holding Ellie and about to give her a jar of baby food. 

“Eat your food while it’s warm, babe. I can feed Ellie.” Mal said, already standing to take the baby. Evie already took so long to eat that she couldn’t even imagine how much longer the whole process would be if she fed Ellie first. 

“No, you cooked. You eat and I’ll take Ellie.” Carlos told her instead, reaching over and taking Ellie before Mal could. Evie looked a little lost now that she didn’t have her daughter to hold onto.

Mal tried her best not to stare. She knew that it wasn’t helpful for her to police her girlfriend’s eating habits or try to force her into eating, so she chose to focus on her food instead. Luckily, Ellie was in a great mood and giggling the whole meal, so it gave everyone something to focus on. 

Jay finished first and immediately got started on the dishes. Mal knew she didn’t say it enough, but she was so grateful for the boys. The four of them had such a nice routine with each other and they knew exactly how to help out. Mal finished next and brought her plate over. 

“What’s up with E?” Jay whispered.

Mal tried to subtly glance at Evie. She could see that her food was barely touched. The blue haired girl was staring down at her plate and just swirling everything around with her fork. 

“Shit.” Mal cursed quietly.

“Was it therapy?”

“I think so.” Mal abandoned the dishes and went over to Evie instead. She knelt down next to her and touched her thigh, causing the girl to jump. “Sorry, baby. Is your food okay? Would you rather have something else?” 

Evie stared at her for a second, tears building in her eyes. But then as quickly as they came, they disappeared. She smiled and shook her head no. “This is good, I’m just distracted.” She poked her fork into a piece of chicken and then ate it. “I’m okay, M.” 

Mal stood and kissed her forehead, then went back to help with cleaning up. Once everyone had finished eating (which in Evie’s case meant a little less than half of her plate), they finished cleaning up and then went up to the girls’ dorm. 

Ellie was rubbing her eyes and starting to yawn. Mal smiled down at the little girl. “Are you getting tired? Look at you, you have your dinner all over you.” 

“I need to give her a bath.” Evie said. “She had one this morning, but I want to get her in the routine of having one at night instead. Hopefully it’ll make bedtime easier.” 

“I’ll help you.” Mal agreed. They went into the bathroom together and Evie started to fill the tub with water. Mal spread a towel out in front of the bath tub so they could kneel, while Evie undressed Ellie. She carried her over and set her in the water. Ellie instantly squealed and started to play with her toys. 

“See? She loves being in the water.” 

“She’s the cutest thing ever.” Mal stated. She passed Ellie new toys, smiling every time the child laughed. 

“M?”

“Hmmm?”

“Can I sit on your lap?” 

As soon as Evie asked the question, Mal turned to look at her. The anxiety was practically pouring off of her in waves. “Are you okay?”

“I just need to calm down.” 

Mal moved her body so she could sit in front of the tub instead of kneeling. Then, Evie adjusted herself so she could straddle Mal’s waist. She put her arms around Mal and rested her head on her shoulder. Mal kept her left arm locked around Evie’s waist while she used her right arm to hand toys to Ellie. 

When she saw that the baby was content, Mal brought her right hand up and ran her fingers through Evie’s hair. “Talk to me, Pretty Girl. What’s going on?” 

“Not now.” She said so quietly that if she wasn’t sitting on Mal’s lap, she wouldn’t have heard her. “Not in front of Ellie.” 

Mal just leaned down and kissed her forehead. Honestly, she understood what Evie was trying to do. She knew that they needed to seem like they had everything under control right now so that no one would argue against them keeping Ellie. But at the same time, she had a very hard time believing that Evie bottling everything up would help in any way. 

After she had given Ellie enough time to play, Mal started to wash her hair and body. She tried her best not to move too much and disturb Evie, who was taking slow, deep breaths with her head still resting on Mal’s shoulder. 

“She’s all done, my princess.” Mal said. “You wanna stand up so we can get her out?” 

Evie gave her a light kiss on the neck, then stood up. She looked absolutely exhausted and it made Mal’s heart hurt. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around Ellie, then walked out of the bathroom with Mal following. 

“I need to shower, I’m still dirty from practice.” Mal told Evie. “Are you going to stay with Ellie or did you want to shower with me?”

“With you.” She replied immediately. Evie put a new diaper on Ellie and dressed her in some warm pajamas, then took her over to the boys. “Carlos, can you watch her so I can shower?”

“Yeah, no problem.” He reached out and took the baby, then glanced over at Mal with obvious concern. He raised his eyebrows in question, but Mal just shook her head, trying to signal to him that he shouldn’t bring it up. Evie went ahead into the bathroom while Mal grabbed their towels. 

“What’s going on with her?” Carlos wondered. 

“She’s been really clingy.” Jay agreed. 

“I’m guessing something with therapy, but she won’t say. She told me she feels weird today, so I’m just happy that she’s acknowledging that.” Mal grabbed the towels and then went into the bathroom. Evie had already started the water, but she was waiting for her. 

They undressed in silence and climbed into the shower together. Mal wrapped her arms around Evie’s waist from behind, pulling her back against her chest so they could both be warm. 

“Talk to me.” She whispered. 

“Nothing even really happened.” Evie said quietly. “It’s not that big of a deal.” 

“It obviously is if you’re this upset.” Mal kissed her shoulder. “Please, E.” 

Evie sighed. “They were asking about the Isle. Obviously they both already know what happened, but they were asking anyway. They wanted to know if my mother threatened anyone other than me, and I told them she said something about Harry and Ellie too. They brought up food and asked if my mother called me fat while we were there- understatement of the year.” Evie scoffed. 

Mal held her a little tighter. “You know she was delusional, right? You are not fat. The doctors have even told you how underweight you are.” 

“I know.” Evie said, putting her hands over Mal’s arms where they were wrapped around her. “Dr. Bren brought up what I said after I told them about Ellie.” 

“I don’t remember what you said.” 

“I told them that she was better off without a fucked up 16 year old dyke with an eating disorder as a mother.” 

Mal felt physically ill after those words. Now that Evie was saying it, she did remember it happening right before Evie ran out of FG’s office. On the actual day, Mal had been more concerned about finding Evie and trying to figure out a plan to save Ellie, so she had never spoken to her girlfriend about it. She felt awful. 

“Baby…” She whispered.

“Stop, I know what you’re thinking. I don’t blame you for never saying anything about it. Honestly, I forgot about it too until Dr. Bren brought it up. But then…” she bit down on her lip nervously, trying to figure out how to say the next part. “She asked me what I am.” 

Mal frowned. “What does that even mean?” 

“Like who am I interested in; am I a lesbian or bisexual or whatever.” 

“What did you say?” 

“I told them that I’ve only ever been interested in you.” Mal felt Evie tense up, so she knew whatever was coming next was why she was upset. “But Dr. Bren said that I must have been interested in a man at some point or I wouldn’t have Ellie.” 

Mal sighed. “I’m sorry, baby.” 

“Everyone just assumes I’m a slut.” Evie whimpered. 

“You’re not.” Mal tried to reassure her. 

“But I am! I don’t even know how many people I’ve fucked.” 

“I do.” Mal answered. “You have fucked one person- me. Anything else was not your choice, so it doesn’t count. Regardless of that, people shouldn’t be called names like a ‘slut’ or ‘whore’ based off of how many people they’ve slept with. Why do people care so fucking much about other people’s sex lives?” 

Evie didn’t argue against that. “I didn’t even know what to say, so I called boundary. And obviously Dr. Bren knows that Jay isn’t Ellie’s dad or she would have said his name instead of ‘a man’.” 

“I think it’s time to figure out what we’re planning with that. Are we really going to let people believe that Jay is Ellie’s dad?” 

“I don’t want to. I don’t want people judging him for not helping with her enough or whatever. She has two parents, and that’s us. I just wish everyone would mind their own business.” 

“Me too, Princess.” Mal turned her around so they were facing each other. “Did your session end after that?” 

“Dr. Bren said that the whole point of the conversation was to know if I was comfortable with my sexuality. She tried to ask how my mother reacted to us being together, but I said I didn’t want to talk anymore.” Evie sighed. “I don’t know, I know Dr. Bren is just trying to help. But it still sucks to talk about that stuff. I know that Ellie being here brings up so many new questions, so it’s just going to get harder.”

“But you can handle it, E. You’re so strong, you know that? And when you get too tired, what will happen?” 

Evie couldn’t help but smile. “You’ll be strong for me.” 

“Exactly.” Mal kissed the tip of her nose. I’m sorry you had a shitty day.” She ran both of her hands through Evie’s wet, tangled hair. 

“It wasn’t that bad until therapy. I had a nice day with Ellie.” Evie leaned into Mal. “I can tell that my milk is coming in. My boobs are sore.” 

Mal pulled back slightly so Evie’s chest wasn’t smashed up against her. “Are you okay? Do you need anything?” 

Evie shook her head no. “I just need to be with you. You make everything better.” 

Mal’s heart melted at the content look on Evie’s face. She smiled at her. “This is one of those moments where I love you isn’t enough.”

Evie giggled, making Mal smile even bigger. She put her arms around Mal’s neck and pulled her down for a quick kiss. “You are my life, Mal Bertha.” 

“And you are everything, pretty baby.” Mal gave her another kiss. “Come on, let’s get done so you can feed our girl.” 

They washed each other’s hair, then their own bodies. The two girls dried off, both of them feeling much better than when they got into the shower. Evie led the way to their closet so they could pick out their usual sleep clothes.

“Say goodnight to the boys.” Mal said as she came over, lifting Ellie off of Carlos’s lap.

“Night, Ellie.” Carlos told her, squeezing her tiny foot. 

“Sweet dreams, little princess.” Jay called. 

Mal carried her over to where Evie was already waiting in their bed. She caught sight of the water bottle on the table next to the bed, and remembered that it was there so Evie could take her medicine. 

“What about your anxiety medicine? Will that affect breastfeeding?”

“Dr. Bren and Dr. Rhodes said that it’s okay.” Evie answered, accepting Ellie into her arms. “Will you grab my medicine, please? I know once I get comfortable I won’t want to get up again.” 

Mal grabbed the bottle, shaking out two pills and bringing them to her girlfriend. Evie swallowed the pills, then settled back against the pillows. 

“I’m nervous.” She admitted. 

“You’ve done it before. I’m sure it will come naturally.” Mal reassured her. Right as she said it, Ellie started to yank on Evie’s t-shirt. “See? She remembers you used to feed her, so I bet she’ll remember what to do.” 

Evie pulled her t-shirt up and cradled Ellie carefully. She brought her up to her breast, wincing slightly as the baby tried to latch on. Evie started to grimace. 

“What’s wrong?” Mal questioned, trying to figure out how she could help. 

“She’s not on right.” Evie slid her fingers into Ellie’s mouth, breaking the latch and pulling her away. Ellie started to whine immediately. “I know, baby. Mama is trying.” She brought her up to breast again. This time, she let out a loud yelp that had the boys dropping their video game controllers and running over. 

“What happened?” Jay demanded. 

“She didn’t have teeth two months ago.” Evie said, her voice a little strained from the pain. 

“Remember, you’re doing this to help her gain weight. The two of you just have to work together to learn how to do this again.” Mal kissed her temple.

After a few more minutes, Ellie finally latched on correctly in a way that wasn’t painful for Evie. She sighed in relief. “She’s doing it.” 

“See?” Mal smiled. “You’re amazing.” She pulled Evie into her arms, watching as Ellie suckled and slowly fell asleep. Mal just stroked Evie’s hair with one hand and rubbed her bare leg with the other. 

“Time to switch, Ellie.” Evie told her daughter. Mal held her breath, waiting for it to be another process as Evie put Ellie on her other breast. Surprisingly, she did it right on the first time. 

“There’s the Ellie we know.” Mal said proudly. “She was always a great eater on the Isle. I bet she’s going to be the same way here.” She heard movement and looked over, seeing that Jay and Carlos had turned off their game and they were grabbing their backpacks. “What are you guys doing?”

“Homework.” 

“Fuck.” Evie and Mal cursed in perfect unison. They had both totally forgotten about their homework. 

“I can’t wait until Ellie’s first word is ‘fuck’.” Jay teased with a laugh. 

“We really do need to censor ourselves more.” Evie told the group. 

“Why are you talking to us?” Carlos questioned. “The two of you are the ones cussing in front of her!” 

Evie and Mal both laughed. After a few minutes, Ellie drifted off to sleep. Evie gently broke the latch and laid Ellie down on the bed. “Come on.” 

Mal was too comfortable. She looked at her girlfriend with a frown. “Where are you going?”

“To do homework, and you need to too.” She grabbed Mal’s hand. “We have to stay on top of our schoolwork. Fairy Godmother said we can temporarily take turns staying home as long as all of our work is done. Don’t mess it up, M.” 

Mal groaned, but rolled out of bed. The VKs made a circle on the floor as they worked through their homework, doing their best to explain anything Evie had missed to her. Jay and Mal were both pretty checked out at that point, so Carlos was doing most of the teaching. 

By the time they finished it was eleven o’clock. The four of them decided that they might as well go to bed, so they separated and went to lay down. Evie looked at Mal. “I want to lay with you.” 

“Do you want me to put the baby in her crib?” 

Evie sighed. “Is it bad if I say yes?”

“No. We need to work on getting her in the crib anyway. Besides, she sleeps through the night now, so she most likely won’t need a night feed.” Mal kissed her. “Don’t feel guilty, okay?” she carefully scooped up Ellie and put her in the crib. 

When Mal came back over, Evie practically climbed on top of her. Mal barely even had a second to get comfortable before Evie’s head was on her chest and her leg was thrown over her hip. She just went with it, letting one hand rest on Evie’s lower back and the other stroked her arm. 

“I love you.” Evie whispered, pressing a kiss over the place where Mal’s t-shirt covered her heart. 

“I love you more.” Mal kissed her forehead and then closed her eyes, hoping that tomorrow would be a better day. 

\-----

Maleficent stood on her balcony, staring out at the Isle of the Lost. She waited impatiently for her minions to bring her back the boy she was seeking. 

“If you wanted to see me, you could have set up a meeting like everyone else.” 

Maleficent snarled at the sound of his voice. She hated this arrogant child almost as much as she hated Mal; at least Mal knew her place. She turned around, coming face to face with pale skin, black hair, and nearly black eyes. 

“When I call for you, you come here. Don’t forget who is in charge of this island, child.” 

Quinton just shook his head. “Whatever. Do you want the information or not?” 

Maleficent turned back out to stare at the island, making sure to look at the teenager out of the corner of her eye. “Proceed.” 

“Mal, Evie, Jay, Carlos, and Prince Ben of Auradon were on the Isle.” 

Maleficent shook her head. “Nonsense. They wouldn’t have returned.” 

“But they did. It was over the weekend, and it was late at night. They stayed on the outskirts and moved through the Isle quickly. They were going to see Uma’s crew. Your bastard killed one of my men.” 

The Mistress of Evil fought her urge to smirk. At least Mal hadn’t lost her touch. “I’m sure you’ll find a replacement. There are plenty of _boys_ on this island.” She made sure to emphasize the fact that she considered Quinton to be a child. She knew how much the insolent little brat couldn’t stand being talked down to, but she couldn’t resist. He was so easy to wind up, just like his mother. “Why am I just now hearing about this?”

“We were working to find all the information.” Quinton informed her. “One of the original villains is dead.” 

That had Maleficent turning to face him. “Really? Mal did that?” 

“No, not Mal.” Quinton practically snarled. “Evie.” 

Maleficent raised an eyebrow in surprise. She had no idea that Grimhilde’s whore was that bold. “Which villain?” 

“The Evil Queen.” 

It made sense. It was no secret that Grimhilde had her daughter living in a castle of horrors. The bitch must have finally snapped and done something about it. 

“Well isn’t that too bad.” Maleficent said dryly. Grimhilde was one of her allies, but she was trouble. She was always after material items at whatever cost. She had went behind Maleficent’s back more than once to gain the ridiculous items she craved, like shoes or makeup. As far as she was concerned, this was a nice way to cut her losses. 

“A few of my men witnessed the murder. After it happened, your demon spawn went after what belongs to me.” 

Maleficent looked at him in boredom. “Which is?” 

“Evie.” 

The dark fairy rolled her eyes. She didn’t understand the royals’ obsession of being betrothed to or owning another person. “That sounds like your problem.” 

“Oh it is, and I definitely intend on taking care of that.” Quinton threatened. “Genevieve deserves every punishment that is coming her way for betraying me.” 

“Is that all?”

“I just thought you should know that people are starting to talk. They’re wondering how someone as powerful as you could raise a daughter who is a dyke.” 

Maleficent whipped around to face him. “Excuse me? You dare to say that in my presence?”

“I’m just saying, Mal has been fucking Evie for years now. Everyone knows it.” 

“I don’t concern myself with what Mal does to entertain herself when she isn’t working for me.” She turned to walk away, hoping that Quinton would get the hint and leave. 

“She loves her!” Those words stopped her in her tracks. Maleficent stared at Quinton, daring him to say it again. “Why do you think Queen Grimhilde sold Evie to me? Evie is in love with Mal, and Mal feels the same way. They’ve paraded around the market before and practically announced it. Mal has claimed her in front of everyone, and she even gave her a ring that Evie refuses to take off. After Evie murdered the queen, Mal carried her away. She was whispering to her and touching her. She…”

“ENOUGH!” Maleficent shouted. She didn’t know why she believed Mal could be trusted to handle the job in Auradon. The girl had proven time and time again that she was willing to be weak if it meant she could be in love. 

There was only one option. 

She looked at the petulant prince in front of her, staring into his cold, lifeless eyes. “Quinton, I have a job for you.”


	36. Hanging by a Thread

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This chapter took FOREVER for me to write. I don't know how I feel about it, but I wanted to update and give you all something. It's long since I had a lot that I wanted to cover. Make sure you go back and check that you read the last chapter. There weren't a lot of comments, so either it sucked or people didn't see it! 
> 
> Let me know what you think.

Over the past week, things had pretty much stayed the same. Evie and Mal had been working on getting Ellie into a more normal routine, and the two of them along with Jay had been taking turns staying with her during the day. 

On Thursday, it was Mal’s turn. She spent the day with Ellie in the room and had Carlos bring back food- she would have had Evie do it, but she knew about her girlfriend’s worries of people seeing her with too much food and thinking it was all for her. Surprisingly, Evie seemed okay after she got back from class and she watched Mal and the boys play Tourney. Then, Evie made dinner and the two of them spent the night playing with Ellie. 

On Friday, Carlos stayed home from school to watch the baby. At the end of the day, everyone was happy for a break. Ben finally brought all the stuff to baby proof the girls’ dorm, so he and Audrey came over to help out. They all ate homemade pizza that Evie cooked and figured out ways to make the dorm safer together. 

When Saturday rolled around, Evie woke up early and got ready for her shopping trip with Audrey. She breastfed Ellie before she went, then left Mal in charge for the day. The purple haired girl realized that when she stayed home from school the other day, it was her first time with Ellie alone. Back on the Isle, Evie had been confined to the hideout, so she was always there. Luckily for her, Ellie was an easygoing baby and didn’t cause any trouble. When Evie returned, she had more clothes, diapers, toys, and a high chair. 

Sunday was a lazy day. Evie wasn’t ready to take Ellie out yet, so the boys grabbed their meals from the cafeteria and they ate in the dorm kitchen so they could have a change of scenery. The VKs caught up on their homework after Ellie went to bed so they would be ready for the week ahead of them. 

On Monday, it was Jay’s turn to stay home. Evie trusted Jay, but she was nervous on how he would handle the baby on his own. She came home with Mal at lunch time to drop off his food and she was happy to see Jay playing with Ellie on the floor. He reassured them that everything had been fine. At Evie’s Monday therapy appointment with Fairy Godmother, she got the news that all of her tests from her gynecology appointment had come back clear. She had run back to the dorm and nearly cried in Mal’s arms because she was so happy. 

Now, it was Tuesday morning. It was Evie’s turn to stay home, but for some reason, she woke up before the sun was up. She looked over towards Ellie’s crib, trying to figure out if maybe her daughter woke up and she heard her in her sleep. Then, she heard a sound from next to her. 

As soon as Evie looked at Mal, her heart broke. It was pretty rare for Mal to have nightmares now, and usually, they weren’t too bad. She had told Evie that anytime she woke up from one, she would just pull her closer into her arms and it would make all the bad thoughts go away. Mal’s hair was stuck to her sweaty forehead and she was grimacing. 

“No…please…” she whispered. 

“Mal, baby, it’s time to wake up now.” Evie said, stroking Mal’s hair out of her face. 

“Tristan…” 

Evie froze. Mal was dreaming about the boy from Quinton’s crew that she had to kill? 

“Don’t touch her…” 

“Open your eyes, Mal. You’re safe. We’re in Auradon.” Evie pulled her over so she could hug her. She squeezed tightly, trying to jostle her awake. 

Mal’s eyes flew open and she instantly tensed up. She looked around frantically. 

“Shhh, you’re okay.” Evie soothed. She pushed all the hair away from Mal’s sweaty face, then leaned down and kissed her forehead. “I’m here, my love.” 

“Evie?” Mal practically whimpered. 

“It’s Evie.” She confirmed. She leaned down to rest their foreheads against each other. “We are in our dorm room in Auradon. Everything is okay.” 

She could feel Mal shaking in her arms. She just held her closer, trying to reassure her that her dream wasn’t real. Evie was surprised when Mal pulled away. 

“Where are you going?” she asked in confusion, seeing Mal get out of bed. 

“I need some air.” Mal walked towards the dorm room door. 

Evie jumped up, trying to move quietly so she didn’t wake Ellie or the boys. Mal opened the door and walked out with no shoes or coat in just thin pajama pants and a t-shirt. Evie grabbed her arm before she could go far. 

“It’s freezing outside, M. You’re going to get sick.” Evie told her. “Let’s just sit here, okay?” She sank down onto the floor in the hallway, realizing for the first time that she was still wearing only underwear and one of Mal’s sweatshirts. When her girlfriend didn’t move, she patted the ground next to her. “Sit.” 

Mal sighed, but did as she asked. She stared straight ahead and her face was clear from emotion, but Evie could see her hands shaking. She reached out and grabbed them. 

“Talk to me. What’s going on?”

“Nothing. It was just a stupid dream.” 

“What was it about?” 

“I don’t remember.” 

“You said Tristan.” Evie said, seeing that Mal’s face paled almost instantly. “Come on, M. I’m here for you.” 

“It’s really not a big deal.” 

Evie gave her a look. “Suddenly, I understand why you’re always so frustrated when you try to get me to talk.” 

“There’s bigger shit going on right now.” Mal argued. 

“Not to me.” Evie brushed a piece of purple hair behind her girlfriend’s ear. “Mal, you take on a lot. There are days when the only reason I survive is because I have you. You help me take care of Ellie. You watch out for the boys. I hate that you’re under that constant pressure, but you’re the leader of our group. If you’re not taken care of, then none of us are going to be okay.” 

“Do you want to know what the problem is, Evie? I’m a monster!” Mal shouted. Evie felt her stomach clench at those words. “In my dream, we were on the Isle.” Mal’s voice was shaky, proving that she was still upset by whatever her nightmare was about. “Tristan got to you. He was hurting you and Quinton was coming, so I had to do something. I killed him.” 

Evie pulled Mal closer until the shorter girl gave in and leaned her head on her shoulder. That sounded pretty similar to what had actually happened on the Isle. “I’m sorry you had to kill him.” 

“I’m not. He was going to tell Quinton we were there, and he touched you. That’s the part that’s so fucking annoying. I’ve killed people before and I didn’t care, so why the fuck is this bothering me so much?” 

“I don’t know.” Evie admitted. “I’ve never said this to you before, but I’m sorry.” 

Mal frowned. “For what?”

“For pushing my pain off on you. I told you names of some of the men my mother brought into my room and you got rid of them. It made me feel better to know they were gone, but then you had their deaths on your conscious. I wish you didn’t have to carry that burden.” 

She shook her head. “I don’t regret killing any of those men. I would gladly go back and do it again if I was given the chance to redo it. They hurt you in the worst way possible, Evie. They deserved to die, and I sleep better every night knowing they are gone.” 

“Maybe that’s what’s different this time.” Evie suggested. “Yeah, Tristan grabbed my arm, but he didn’t hurt me. It’s not the same.” Mal nodded in understanding. “But you’re right; he would have told Quinton. If I had to stand up to both him and my mother, I don’t think I would be here right now.” 

“Don’t say that.” Mal brought their joined hands up to her lips and kissed the back of Evie’s hand. They were quiet for a few seconds. “I just…I guess I’m worried about Ben. What if he finds out? There’s no way they’ll let me stay in Auradon, especially after I lied.”

“We’ll figure it out.” Evie promised. “No one is separating us, M. Besides that, I really think Ben is starting to understand us. He wouldn’t send you away.” 

“There’s just so much on the line. I can’t afford to fuck up.”

“You didn’t fuck up, baby.” Evie gave her a kiss. “By getting rid of Tristan, you protected me. You protected Ben, Jay, and Carlos. You protected Ellie, and even Uma and Harry. I hate that you had to kill him, but it was the right thing to do to keep us all safe.” Evie kissed her again. “We’re all alive because of you.” 

“I’m just so tired.” Mal admitted, her voice sounding choked up. “I hate that we keep having to choose the best option out of shitty situations. When is it ever going to be enough? When can we just be happy?” A tear slid down her cheek. 

“Soon.” Evie whispered, pulling Mal into her arms. She closed her eyes and leaned her head on top of Mal’s, glad that she was finally letting out some emotions. She could feel Mal’s hot tears soaking through her t-shirt and she was grateful that she wasn’t bottling things up anymore. 

“I don’t want to disappoint you or Ellie. I don’t want you to think of me differently because I killed someone.” 

Evie tilted Mal’s chin up so they could make eye contact. “M, I love you no matter what. I don’t think there’s anything you could do that would make me stop loving you.” She kissed her cheek. “Ellie adores you. You see the way her eyes light up when she looks at you.” She hugged her tighter. “Plus it’s not like I can really pass judgment on that subject.” 

Mal leaned up and gave her a kiss. It tasted salty from her tears mixing in, but Evie didn’t care. “Thanks for letting me talk. I feel a little better now that it’s off my chest.” 

“Of course. I’m always here for you, my love.” 

“I just wish you would talk to me. I can see that you’re struggling, E. I want to help you too.” 

Evie shook her head. “I’m not ready.” 

Mal sighed. “I don’t want you carrying this around on your own.” 

“And I don’t want to unpack more of my baggage on you.” Evie looked into her eyes. “Right now, you need to take care of you, okay? I can handle myself for a little while so that you can get to a good place mentally.” 

The purple haired girl pouted, which automatically made Evie smile. They leaned in and kissed again, separating only when they heard a door close down the hall. 

Mal scanned her eyes across her body and Evie could tell she was just now realizing that she was sitting in the open hallway in just underwear and a t-shirt. Mal lifted her up and carried her back into the dorm room, dropping Evie onto the bed and then crawling on top of her. Typically, Mal wasn’t big on laying on Evie, but she must have needed the comfort because she rested her head on Evie’s chest. 

The blue haired girl couldn’t help but smile. She just ran her fingers through Mal’s hair, hoping that she was helping as much as the other girl helped her. 

\-----

The rest of Tuesday was a great day. Mal felt a lot better now that she talked to Evie, and she hoped that she wouldn’t have anymore nightmares. Evie stayed home with Ellie, and Mal brought her breakfast and lunch to the dorm. Mal went to therapy while Evie and Carlos stayed at the dorm with Ellie, and then everyone went to Tourney practice. Luckily, it wasn’t as cold, so Evie and Ellie could stay the whole time. 

On Wednesday morning, things felt calm for the first time in a while. Mal could obviously see that Evie was still wound extremely tight, but she had decided maybe it was best to let Evie come to her when she was ready. She had considered her girlfriend’s words from the day before very carefully, and she knew that she really did need to start taking care of herself before trying to help Evie with her issues. 

It was Mal’s turn to stay home that day. She woke up when she felt the bed dip. She squinted against the light, seeing that Evie was going into the bathroom. She rolled over and shut her eyes. 

When Mal woke up again, she felt lips being pressed against her own. Her eyes fluttered open and landed on her gorgeous girl. 

“Good morning, M.” Evie greeted quietly. She was fully dressed for school and holding Ellie, who looked like she was asleep. Mal reached her arms up and Evie handed over the baby, letting Mal put her next to her on their bed. “I just breastfed her, so she should be good for a little bit. Give her some baby cereal in an hour, okay?” 

“M’kay.” Mal hummed. 

“Carlos is going to bring your breakfast. Is there anything specific you want?”

“I don’t care.” Mal said, reached out blindly until she found Evie’s hand. She pulled her down so she could give her another kiss. “You look so pretty today.” 

Evie snorted. “Your eyes are barely open.” 

“But I know you’re always gorgeous.” 

“I’m just going to pretend you’re being cheesy because you’re still half asleep.” Evie teased. She leaned down and gave her one last kiss. “Text me if you need me.” 

“Bye baby.” Mal called back. She heard the door shut and then the room was quiet.

Mal drifted off again, knowing that Carlos would wake her up when he brought breakfast in. She wished that Evie would come back and eat with her and Ellie, but she knew her girlfriend wasn’t comfortable being seen carrying that much food back to the room. Besides that, Jay had told her that Audrey and Ben had been joining them for breakfast and Mal thought it was good for Evie to socialize while she was eating. 

She startled back awake when she heard the door open. Mal sat up quickly, moving so she could protect Ellie if she needed to. 

“Sorry.” Carlos said. He set the container on the table next to the bed. “I grabbed waffles, sausage, and a cinnamon roll for you.” 

“Thanks, C.” 

“Have you looked at your phone?” 

Mal frowned, looking around to try and locate the device. Did Evie text her? Was something wrong? 

She opened it up and saw she had an email from Fairy Godmother that was addressed to all four VKs.

 _Good morning! I would like to make sure that all four of you are present today during Goodness class. You are more than welcome to bring Gabriella with you. See you this afternoon!_

“What did Evie say about it?” Mal wondered. 

“I don’t know, I saw it on my way over here. I’m sure she won’t be happy.” 

Mal decided to find out. 

_To: Evie  
Did you see FG’s email? _

_From: Evie  
No. Hold on_

_From: Evie  
What could she possibly need all four of us for? _

_To: Evie  
No clue. How do you want to play this? I’m fine with hiding out here if you don’t want me to bring Ellie _

_From: Evie  
It doesn’t sound like we have a choice. Just bring her with you _

_To: Evie  
Okay. See you in Goodness class then. Have a good day, Princess_

_From: Evie  
You too. Give our girl a kiss for me _

“E said to bring Ellie, so I guess we’re going.” Mal informed Carlos. “I hope this isn’t anything serious. I can’t take anymore bombs being dropped on us.” 

“Agreed.” Carlos sighed. “What is the plan with Ellie? Are we going to just keep her hidden here forever?” 

Mal carefully laid Ellie down on the mattress, then moved all of the pillows and blankets away from her. She grabbed her food and went over to the couch with Carlos. 

“I don’t want to keep her hidden, and neither does Evie. But I think for now, we have some other stuff to work on first. We need to get ourselves together before we can even begin to bring other people’s opinions into our lives.” 

“But what if it’s not a negative thing?” Carlos wondered. “What if bringing Ellie out of the dorm makes your life easier? The Tourney team has already seen her, even if they haven’t asked questions, they have to know that she’s Evie’s. Nothing bad as happened yet from that, so maybe other people will react well.” 

Mal gave him a weird look. “You’ve gotten optimistic since coming to Auradon.” 

Carlos cracked a smile. “I just care about you guys a lot and I want you all to be happy.” 

“We will be, C. It might take a little bit, but I won’t stop until all five of us are safe and happy.” Mal glanced over at the clock. “You better go or you’ll be late.” 

Carlos stood up. “See you in Goodness class.” He left the room without another word. 

Mal ate her breakfast in silence, thinking about what Carlos said. She wanted people to know about Ellie. She was sick of hiding, and she refused to keep her hidden forever and have Ellie grow up thinking that they’re ashamed of her. But even though Mal had been getting to a better mental state and starting to come to terms with the fact that she killed Tristan over the past few days, Evie was struggling. Mal gave her some credit for the fact that she had now been holding it together for close to two weeks, but she knew Evie. Her girl was getting pushed closer and closer to the edge every day and she didn’t want her to have to worry about even more shit. 

After she finished her breakfast, Mal cleaned up the dorm room. The entire place was baby proofed now, but she still walked around constantly and made sure there was nothing on the floor that Ellie could get. She wasn’t crawling yet, but they knew it would only be a matter of time. 

Then, she got Ellie’s baby cereal ready. She grabbed one of the little plastic bowls and poured out the powder, then added water. It made Mal a little sick that this was so easy. The people of Auradon could even send over powdered food like this to the Isle and everyone would be better off. Instead, they were just stuck with rotted food and scraps.

“Wake up, little one.” She sat on the bed next to Ellie and rubbed her belly. Ellie’s light brown eyes fluttered open, her tiny arms stretching over her head. Her full little lips pouted as she finally looked at Mal. 

“Mama.” She called out. 

“Mama is at school, Ellie Belly.” Mal reached out and picked her up, sitting the eight month old on her lap. She kissed the top of her head. “Are you hungry?” Ellie sighed grumpily and leaned against Mal. “I know, I miss Mama too. But we’ll see her soon, okay? You get to come to school with me today. We’re going to have breakfast, then get dressed, then we’ll play for a little bit, and you’ll take a little nap.” Mal stood, carrying her daughter over to the changing table. 

Mal changed Ellie’s diaper, then put her pajamas back on her. She didn’t want to get her dressed yet in case she was messy with her breakfast. She put Ellie in the high chair and started to feed the cereal to her. 

“Look at you, you’re such a good eater! This food is going to help you grow up and be big and strong. You won’t be sick all the time or tiny like the other kids on the Isle.” Mal couldn’t resist kissing Ellie’s forehead. 

After Ellie finished eating, Mal wiped off her face and changed her into a clean outfit. She chose one of the ones Evie had made. It was a little pair of white leggings and a long, light blue sweater. She put a pair of socks on her tiny feet, and then grabbed a bow. Ellie had a full head of dark hair already, so the big, light blue bow contrasted perfectly. Mal added a pair of little black boots and smiled in satisfaction. 

“See? Mommy isn’t so bad at getting you dressed.” Mal took a picture of Ellie’s outfit and sent it to Evie. 

_To: Evie  
[Picture of Ellie]   
I’m pretty much a fashionista now too _

_From: Evie  
M! _

_From: Evie  
God, our baby is so fucking cute _

_To: Evie  
Did I do a good job? _

_From: Evie  
Yes, she looks perfect_

_From: Evie  
I love you_

_To: Evie  
I love you more, Princess_

Mal took Ellie over to the blanket they had set up on the floor. She tried her best to get Ellie to crawl, but the little girl preferred just scooting around. She kept going for the little dragon stuffed animal, and Mal smiled proudly at her toy preference.

They played until it was time for Ellie’s morning nap. She took the bow off and removed her shoes, then put Ellie in her crib. Luckily, her absolutely perfect baby fell asleep with very little protesting. 

Mal sat on the bed and pulled out her sketchbook. Since they came to Auradon, she hadn’t had as much time to draw. She actually felt relaxed as she started to work on her latest creation. Mal tended to just let her mind flow- it was rare that she actually planned a picture out. But she wasn’t at all surprised when she paused to look at her sketchbook and realized that she was drawing Evie. 

She glanced at the clock and saw that it was almost time to go. She went over to the crib. 

“I’m sorry to wake you up, El, but we have to go.” She scooped Ellie up into her arms. 

Ellie pouted immediately, her lip quivering as her eyes filled with tears. “Mama!” she started to cry. 

“Shhh, you’re okay. We’re going to see Mama, my little love.” Mal laid her down on the changing table. It was hard to change her diaper from Ellie’s thrashing around, but she managed. She put her boots on and tried to put her bow on, but it just made Ellie cry harder. 

Mal bounced Ellie up and down, rubbing her back and whispering soothing words until she finally calmed down. Mal smiled; she wasn’t so different from Evie. She got Ellie to wear the bow and handed her the stuffed dragon. She put Ellie’s coat on, then put on her own coat that Evie had made for her. She threw a couple toys and diapers into a bag for Ellie, then carried her out of the room. 

Mal felt a little nervous walking the halls with the baby. Sure, they had taken her to Tourney practice before, but that was the only time Ellie had been outside. It was weird to be carrying her around when there were other students in the hallway. 

When she got close to Goodness class, Mal wasn’t surprised to see Evie, Jay, and Carlos waiting in the hallway. She walked quickly, doing her best to keep Ellie shielded in her arms from anyone else’s eyes. 

They stepped aside, letting Mal go into the classroom first. She looked up, seeing that Ben and Fairy Godmother were waiting at the front of the room. As soon as the VKs had all come in, Jay shut the door behind them. 

“Hi baby!” Evie greeted as she reached out towards Ellie, who eagerly held her arms out. Mal handed her over, smiling as Evie kissed Ellie’s cheeks. “Hi.” She leaned in, giving Mal a quick kiss. 

“Hey.” Mal stroked a couple strands of blue hair out of her face. “Good day so far?” 

Evie shrugged. “It’s been fine. How’s Ellie?”

“She wasn’t happy that I woke her up from her nap. She was calling for you.”

“I’m sorry I wasn’t there, my love.” Evie kissed Ellie’s forehead. “You look beautiful today, Ellie! Mommy did a good job getting you ready.” 

“She fought the bow, but I knew you would want to see it in person.” 

“It’s so adorable.” Evie gushed. 

“Are you guys going to keep hogging her or can we say hi?” Jay interrupted. Before Mal or Evie could say anything, he reached out and grabbed Ellie. “Hi Ellie! Did you miss me today? I bet you did, I’m way more fun than your boring mom.” Mal rolled her eyes at his words. “Can you say ‘Jay’?” 

“Don’t you mean ‘ _Daddy_ ’?” Carlos teased. Ellie turned towards him at the sound of his voice, immediately breaking out into a gummy smile. “Now you know who the favorite is.” He picked her up and kissed her head. “Say ‘Carlos’. I know you’re smart like your Mama, Ellie. You can do it.” 

“Children?” they all turned at Fairy Godmother’s voice. Mal had forgotten there were others in the room, and based on the tense looks on her friends’ faces, so had they. They all straightened up and stared at FG. “Would you mind taking a seat so we can get started?” 

Evie took Ellie from Carlos and they all walked over to their usual seats. Mal grabbed Ellie’s dragon and handed it to her, watching as she settled against Evie contently. She glanced at Evie and saw her wince. 

“You good?” Mal whispered, trying not to draw FG’s attention towards them. 

“Milk’s still coming in. I’m just really sensitive.” Evie shuffled Ellie to a new position where she was leaning against her breasts. 

“First of all, I just want to say that your little girl is stunning, Evie.” Fairy Godmother said. “She looks just like you.” 

“Thank you.” Evie gave her a tight smile. Mal reached under the table and grabbed Evie’s hand, squeezing it reassuringly. She wished FG would just get to the point. 

“I can see that you all are taking great care of her, and you’ve been doing your best. It’s been almost two weeks since Ellie was brought to Auradon. Have you put anymore consideration into what you will be doing with her while you’re at school?” 

“We’re just going to keep taking turns staying home to watch her.” Mal informed her. 

“You all are juniors right now. You still have to finish out this year, and then you have your senior year next year. You have to think of something more long-term.” Fairy Godmother chastised gently.

“Why? We’ve been doing our homework.” Jay told her. 

“Because there will be days where you have tests and you all need to be in class. Beyond that, your education is important. You can’t keep missing school.”

“How would you feel about a nanny?” Ben asked, speaking for the first time since they came to class. 

Evie frowned. “What’s that?” 

“It’s a person who would take care of Ellie for you while you’re at school.” 

“No.” Evie instantly refused. “I will take care of my own child.” 

“Evie, you’re 16. You need to get an education so that you can graduate high school. You need that diploma to get a job so that you can support your family.” FG said. “Skipping school isn’t practical.” 

“Neither is a girl becoming a mother at 15 and having to abandon her six month old baby to come to Auradon, but we’ve dealt with that already.” Mal challenged. She didn’t like where this conversation was going, so she reverted back to her favorite tactic- sarcasm.

Evie looked at her and rolled her eyes, making Mal squeeze her hand under the table. 

“We’re keeping up on classwork.” Evie began. “We’re bringing home assignments to each other, and we are getting the work done. I understand what you mean about the tests, and that’s something that I’m going to have to think about because I didn’t consider it. But I’m not letting someone else raise my child.” 

“They wouldn’t be raising her.” Ben tried. “It would just be someone to take care of her while you’re in school.” 

“Ben, if you saw the parents on the Isle, maybe you would understand why I can’t trust anyone else to take care of Ellie.” Evie lifted her chin up slightly, and Mal was beyond proud of her for sticking to what she believed in. 

“I’ll continue to allow this for now while you’re still settling.” Fairy Godmother gave in. “But you need to think of a more permanent solution. I can help you, if you need someone to talk through your options with.” 

“Thank you.” Evie nodded at her appreciatively. 

The rest of class actually wasn’t too bad. Fairy Godmother had Dr. Rhodes come in and she walked them all through what to expect for developmental milestones, and confirmed a lot of the information Evie had read in the baby books while she was in the health center. Ben was there, offering to buy any needed supplies. Fairy Godmother was supportive and willing to answer any questions.

After Goodness class, it was time for lunch. As they packed up their bags, Mal looked at Evie. “What do you want to do?” 

Evie bit down on her lip and it took everything in Mal not to yell at her for it. A few seconds later, she nodded her head. “Let’s bring Ellie to lunch.” 

“Yeah?”

“Yeah.” Evie confirmed. “Doug and Lonnie keep asking why they never see the four of us together anymore. Maybe it’s time to let them in on the secret.” 

Mal nodded, leaning down to pick up Evie’s backpack and the bag with Ellie’s things. Evie carried Ellie and they waited for the boys. Mal took the lead, followed by Evie, then Carlos, and finally Jay. They walked down to the cafeteria together. Mal wasn’t surprised to see a lot of the Auradon kids staring. 

“Go sit down, I’ll grab lunch.” Mal said to Evie. She turned to look at the tallest member of their group. “Jay, will you go with them?” 

“Yep.” Mal and Carlos walked towards the lunch line while Evie, Jay, and Ellie went to their usual table. 

“This is a big step.” Carlos commented. 

“If she’s ready, I’m ready.” Mal responded. She grabbed pizza for herself and a salad for Evie. She noticed Carlos piling extra food onto his tray for Jay. After they grabbed everything they needed, they walked to the table together.

Audrey was already at the table. She was directly across from Evie, who was holding Ellie on her lap. Jay was on Evie’s left, so Mal took the spot on Evie’s right. Carlos sat next to Audrey and across from Mal. They distributed food to who it belonged to. 

“I can’t believe this little beauty is finally out of your room!” Audrey said with a smile. “Her outfit is adorable.” 

“Evie made it.” Mal told her automatically. She was so proud of her girl, and she admired her talent. 

“You did a great job. You should start a fashion line for babies.” 

Evie was blushing, and Mal couldn’t help but lean over and kiss her cheek. She took Ellie from her arms. “Eat.” She whispered. 

The blue haired girl started to prepare her salad. Mal watched as she cut up the lettuce and the chicken, then added the dressing. Evie used her fork to stir the salad around and around and around. 

Mal tore her eyes away from her girlfriend’s food. She needed to let her do this herself. She divided her attention between Ellie and her pizza instead. 

“What’s up with the baby?” Mal looked over, seeing that Lonnie had joined them, taking the empty seat next to Carlos. 

Evie set her fork down and turned to the girl. “Lonnie, I would like you to meet Ellie. She’s my daughter.” 

Mal waited for Lonnie to say something rude, but it never came. She looked back and forth between Evie and Mal in confusion. “Wait, is there some secret way you two were able to reproduce that I don’t know about?” 

“Ellie is mine.” Jay chimed in from next to Evie. 

Mal didn’t know what to say. She didn’t know how they were going to answer that question, but she also didn’t want to keep pretending that Jay is Ellie’s other parent. Ellie is hers. 

“Weird.” Lonnie commented. “Cute kid though, she looks like you, Evie.” Then Lonnie started to eat as if none of it mattered. 

Mal looked around the table. Jay was digging into his food and not paying any attention, Evie was staring down at her lap, and Carlos was staring at Lonnie in surprise. Mal’s eyes went to Audrey, who she noticed was staring at Evie. Mal remembered that Evie had said the other day that she told Audrey that the two of them had been together since they were 12. She could tell that the princess was starting to realize something was off with their story.

Ben was the next one to join them, taking the empty seat on Audrey’s side and kissing her cheek, drawing her attention away from Evie. Mal took that opportunity and leaned forward towards her girlfriend. 

“You are doing so great, baby girl. You’re letting Ellie meet other people and I’m so proud of you.” She pressed a quick kiss right below Evie’s ear.

Evie looked at her. “Can we go to the bathroom?” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal stood quickly. She gave Ellie to Jay. “You don’t take your eyes off her.” She threatened. 

“Got it.” 

Mal followed Evie to the bathroom. As soon as they were inside, she pushed her into a stall and locked the door. 

“I fucking hate this.” Evie blurted out. 

“Shhh, calm down.” Mal pulled her into her arms, feeling how tense Evie was. “Talk to me, baby.” 

“I don’t want to lie anymore. Did you see how Audrey was looking at me? She knows I’m a slut and that I cheated on you.” 

Mal grabbed Evie’s cheeks in her hands, forcing her girlfriend to look at her. “Listen to me right now, Evie, because I’m not saying this again. You are _not_ a slut. I’m so fucking sick of hearing you talk about yourself like this. You didn’t cheat on me. I don’t blame you for anything that happened, okay?” 

A tear slid down Evie’s cheek and Mal immediately leaned forward to kiss it away. “How am I supposed to explain this? Either we lie and say Jay is Ellie’s dad, which makes me look like an even bigger slut since he’s our friend…” 

Mal growled, cutting off her sentence. “Stop saying that.” 

“It’s true!” Evie yelled. “Either people think I’m a slut for cheating on you with Jay, or they’ll think I’m a slut for letting random men fuck me!” 

Mal had never, ever wanted to slap Evie as badly as she did right then. She had never put her hands on her girlfriend in a way that could hurt her, but right now, she wanted to slap some sense into her. She clenched her hands into fists and took a deep breath.

“I don’t know why we have to keep having this conversation.” Mal finally said after she took a moment to calm down. “I want you to listen to me and really do your best to hear what I’m saying.” She leaned in and gave her a kiss. “You are not a slut. You have never cheated on me. You didn’t let anyone touch you. You did not fuck them. None of it was your fault.” Mal kissed her again, squeezing her hips as she did. “You are _mine_. You are intelligent and kind and gorgeous and _mine_.” 

“I’m yours.” Evie whimpered back, burying her face in Mal’s neck. “I’m sorry.” 

“I know this is hard. I know having Ellie here brings up a lot of difficult questions, and I don’t know the best way to answer them. But you need to keep your mind clear, baby. You are not responsible for what your mother forced you to do. I have never once blamed you or looked at you differently because of it. I’m so fucking in love with you, Evie, and nothing that happened in the past will ever change that. If you want, we can just tell people to fuck off and mind their own business if they ask questions. We don’t owe anyone an explanation.” 

Evie cracked a small smile. “So you’re taking advice from Jay now?” 

Mal kissed the tip of her nose. “If it works, then who cares who the advice is from?”

Evie cuddled closer to her. “I’m sorry that I’m falling apart right now.” 

“This is exactly what I’ve been saying to you, Princess.” Mal stroked her hair and held her tighter. “You’re letting everything build up.” 

Evie let out a sigh. “We can’t do this right now. I need to calm down or I’m not going to be able to finish the day, and I have therapy today.” 

Mal gave her a soft, slow kiss. “Just breathe, baby girl. Close those beautiful eyes and breathe for me. You’re okay.” Evie practically melted into her and Mal rocked her back and forth. She held her until her breathing was even, and then they heard the bell ring, signaling that lunch was over. 

“I’m sorry I didn’t eat.” Evie said quietly. 

“You needed to calm down. That was more important.” Mal leaned in and gave her a kiss. “Are you okay?” 

“I have to be.” Evie gave her a hug. “Thank you.” 

They walked out of the bathroom together, seeing that Jay and Carlos were still waiting by their table. Evie took Ellie, giving her a quick hug and kiss before passing her off to Mal. 

“Have a good rest of your day, baby.” Mal said, stroking Evie’s cheek for a second. She grabbed her chin gently and pulled her forward so she could give her one last kiss. 

Evie went over to Carlos, hooking her arm with his. They started to walk towards the garbage cans.

“Jay.” Mal called out before the boy could join them. “Watch her, please. If she starts acting weird, tell her to come back to the dorm.” 

“Is everything okay?” 

“No. Just please keep an eye on her.” 

“You know I will.” Jay grabbed his garbage and walked away. 

Mal picked up her own food so she could take it back to the dorm with her. She grabbed Ellie’s bag and carried her towards the dorm. 

“Alright, little one. We’ll play, then naptime, okay?” Mal tried to put on a brave face for the baby, but all she could think about was Evie. 

\-----

Evie would by lying if she said that the rest of the day wasn’t a struggle. How could anyone expect her to focus on history, fashion, and chemistry when she had an eight month old daughter to worry about? She could admit that she spent most of history class trying to keep her breathing calm and steady, so she didn’t really understand the lesson. Fashion class was better, and Audrey kept the conversation light and away from Ellie, which helped. By chemistry, she was feeling a little better, but she knew she was going to come crashing down again when she went to therapy. 

“You want us to walk you?” Carlos asked once chemistry class was over. 

“Yes please.” Evie agreed. Normally, she wouldn’t have taken the boys up on their offer, but she wanted to keep her mind clear for as long as possible. 

“Hey E?” 

She looked towards Jay. “Hmmm?” 

“Do you want me to stop telling people that I’m Ellie’s dad?” she could tell he was a little nervous. 

Evie reached out and grabbed his hand. “Thank you for stepping up. Right now, I don’t know what to do. I have no clue what to say when people ask about Ellie.”

“I just don’t want to make your life harder.” Jay told her. 

“You’re not at all. I appreciate you being here.” She grabbed Carlos’s hand too. “Both of you. I couldn’t do this without all the help you’ve given me with Ellie.” 

“Whatever you choose to do, we’ve got your back.” Carlos stated. 

“I know you do. Thank you.” They arrived in front of Fairy Godmother’s office. Evie hugged each of her boys, hoping that they understood how much they meant to her. Then, she took a deep breath and walked into the room. 

Dr. Bren and Fairy Godmother greeted her and Evie took her usual seat. She crossed her legs and stared at the two women, waiting to see what they would ask her first. 

“How was school today?” Fairy Godmother asked. 

“It was fine.” 

“Did you enjoy seeing Gabriella during Goodness class?” 

“Yes.” Evie admitted. “Even though I trust Mal completely, it was nice to be able to check on her.” 

“I was thinking that maybe from now on, you could all come to Goodness class and whoever is with Gabriella that day can bring her.” FG suggested. “That way you would at least be attending one class, and it would give your daughter an opportunity to get out of the dorm room.”

Evie knew that FG and Ben had compromised a lot, so it was her turn to give in a little. “That’s a good idea.” She agreed. 

“Really?” FG looked shocked. She had obviously been planning on having to talk her into it. 

“Yes, I’ll talk to the others and we can make that work.” 

Fairy Godmother smiled. “Okay! Did you bring her to lunch with you or did Mal take her back to the room?”

“She came to lunch.”

“How have the other students been reacting to seeing Ellie?” Dr. Bren questioned curiously. 

“When we told Audrey, she was really supportive. She helped set up the dorm room so that we had what we needed when I brought Ellie back from the health center. I told Lonnie about her today, and she was nice about it. It actually surprised me how casual she was about it. Other than that, we haven’t really introduced Ellie to anyone. We’ve been going to Tourney practice, so the team has seen her, but they haven’t asked questions. I don’t think anyone knows what to say, and they’re too scared of Mal and Jay to say the wrong thing.” 

“How did people on the Isle react to Ellie?” 

“Hardly anyone knew about her. Obviously Mal, Jay, and Carlos did, and there’s a little girl named Dizzy who was part of our crew who found out. Then we took her to Uma and Harry and they knew, and possibly some of the people on their crew, but that’s it. We trusted everyone who met Ellie and they didn’t question her.”

“Evie, may I ask you a question?” Fairy Godmother said. Evie didn’t really want to know what it was, but she nodded in response. “Today when you were in my class, you told Ben that if he knew what the parents on the Isle were like, he would understand why you can’t trust other people to watch Ellie.” 

Evie cursed in her head. She needed to stop talking; these Auradonians remembered literally everything. “Okay…” 

“What do you mean by that?” 

“We’ve talked about this before.” Evie reminded them. “Parents on the Isle use their kids as bargaining chips. They very rarely love them or feel an actual connection to them. They just use them.” 

“That’s where our confusion is.” Dr. Bren chimed in. “You’ve said that before, but you never mention how your mother ties into that. We know that the Evil Queen barely let you eat, and that she was verbally abusive towards you. We know that she threatened your life. But what I want to know is how you were useful to her.” 

Evie felt her entire face heat up. There was no way that Dr. Bren and Fairy Godmother didn’t know that her mother used her body as a bargaining tool. She had accidentally hinted at it way too many times, and now with Ellie being in Auradon, it was kind of obvious. 

“Why don’t we just cut the shit here?” Evie said, surprising even herself for how direct her comment was. She was so sick of dancing around topics. “Say it.” 

“Evie…” Fairy Godmother tried to intervene. 

“No, you clearly have an idea in your head of what my life was like, so just say it. _Poor Evie was starved and yelled at by her mother. Poor Evie wasn’t allowed to have a girlfriend_.” She stood up. “I don’t need your pity.” 

“We’re not pitying you.” Dr. Bren interrupted her rant. “Did you know that people who were abused as children are more likely to abuse their own kids?” 

Evie felt her blood run cold. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at the therapist. “Excuse me?” 

“This isn’t all about you anymore, Evie. We can see that you are struggling. We need to work through these issues, to help you and to help Ellie.” 

“Don’t you ever fucking accuse me of abusing my child again.” Evie said, her voice soft but firm. “I would never, _ever_ hurt Gabriella the way that my mother hurt me. I’m a good mom.” 

“We know you are.” Fairy Godmother stood, trying to reach out to her, but Evie snatched her hand away. “Dr. Bren isn’t accusing you of hurting your daughter. We know you wouldn’t do that.” 

Evie could barely see them from the tears that had filled her eyes. She shook her head angrily. “I will not be my mother. I don’t care what Ellie does, I would never hurt her. I would die before I would harm her in any way.”

“We believe you.” Dr. Bren said. “But Evie, the point of this conversation is that you are understandably having a hard time coming to terms with the death of your mother. We want to help you sort out all of your feelings so that you can continue being a good mom.” 

“We know you love Ellie and that you are the best person for her.” Fairy Godmother added. “We’re here to help.”

Evie leaned down to grab her bag. FG called after her, but she stormed out of the room. She couldn’t believe that they would say she could hurt Ellie. 

She realized that she was way too wound up. If she went charging back into the dorm room, Mal was going to know something was up. She needed to stay strong a little bit longer. She couldn’t break yet. 

Evie felt the overwhelming urge to throw up. This was the longest she had gone without throwing up in years, but she felt like she needed to. Everything else was spiraling out of her control, but she could be in charge of how much food was in her body. She could stick her fingers down her throat and she would feel better. 

She realized that this wasn’t a good way to think. She sank down and sat against a row of lockers, then pulled out her phone. She sent a quick text, then wrapped her arms around her knees and tried to control her breathing. 

“Hey.” She heard a familiar voice after a few minutes and felt someone sit next to her. “What’s wrong?” 

“I need you to help me.” Evie looked up, staring into Carlos’s eyes. “Please, C. I don’t know what to do.” A tear slid down her cheek. “I can’t breathe.” 

“It’s going to be okay.” Carlos pulled her into a tight hug and she tried her best to relax into his embrace. “Did you get sick?” 

“No, but I want to. You have no idea how much I want to.” 

“I’m proud of you for texting me instead.” Carlos kissed her forehead. “Why didn’t you call Mal?”

“Because she can’t know. I’ve been trying so hard to keep it together, for her and for Ellie, but I don’t know how much longer I can last.” 

“Evie, you know that no one is expecting you to stay strong right now, right? You are allowed to fall apart.” 

Evie shook her head. “If I fall apart, I’m never going to move on from it. I can’t even think about what happened on the Isle.” 

“You have to. You have to let the pain in and acknowledge it so that you can start to work through it. Eves, your mom was fucked up. She hurt you so badly, and you did the right thing. But just because it was the right thing doesn’t mean that it was easy.” 

Evie’s bottom lip quivered as she lifted her head up to look at him. “Dr. Bren thinks I’m going to hurt Ellie.” 

She had never seen Carlos’s face get so dark so quickly. “ _What_?” 

“She said children of abusers are more likely to hurt their kids.” Evie sniffled. “Carlos, am I a bad mom?” 

He squeezed her tighter. “No, Princess. You’re not a bad mom.” He kissed her cheek. “You are the best mom to ever come from the Isle. We know you would never hurt Ellie, okay?” 

“I know that she came from a bad situation, but I really do love her.” Evie cried. “My mom never loved me and that’s why she could hurt me. But I love Ellie, C. I wouldn’t ever hurt her.” 

“I know.” He cradled her face in his hands and wiped the tears off her cheeks. “You need to talk to Mal about this.” 

“I can’t.” Evie said immediately. “She’s a mess right now too. Did you know she had a nightmare the other night? She’s been dreaming about when she killed Tristan. She has her own shit to work through. Everything is always about me, and she always has to push her feelings to the side to deal with whatever is happening with me. I want her to be able to process her own feelings.” 

“Well I can tell you right now that Mal is worrying about you anyway. We all are. You haven’t been the same since we came back.” 

Evie leaned her head on his shoulder. “I don’t think I’m ever going to be the same again.” 

“No, you’ll be better.” Carlos promised. “You’re going to deal with this, E, and you’ll be stronger for it.” 

“You can’t tell Mal about this.” Evie practically whispered. “At least not until this weekend. I want to give her a little more time to get her own thoughts together. I’ll talk to her this weekend.” 

Evie could tell Carlos was conflicted, but she knew him. He was the most understanding of all of her issues, and he would be on her side. She wasn’t surprised when he nodded. 

“Okay, but if you don’t tell her by this weekend, then I’m going to.” 

“Deal.” Carlos stood, then reached down a hand to help Evie up. He took her backpack for her. “Do I look like I was crying?” 

“Your eyes are a little red, but your makeup is good. We’ll take the long way to the Tourney field, okay?” He slung an arm around her shoulder and pulled her close. 

Evie did her best to calm down. She was glad that she called Carlos, and even though she still felt like she wanted to puke, she knew it was better that she didn’t. 

They took the longer way to the field, and Evie noticed for the first time that Carlos was already dressed in his practice uniform and had his bag slung over his shoulder. He led her towards the bleachers. 

“Where did you tell Mal and Jay you were going?” 

“I said I wanted to walk you back from therapy. Mal’s been worried about you since lunch, so she didn’t question it.” Carlos explained. 

She spotted Mal and Jay standing together near the sidelines. Mal was holding Ellie and had her bundled up. She turned her head, smiling as soon as she saw her girlfriend. Evie couldn’t help but smile back. 

“There she is!” Evie heard Mal’s voice as soon as they were close enough. “Ready to spend some time with Mama, Ellie Belly? You’re so lucky to have the best Mama in the world.” 

Evie felt warmth fill her at Mal’s words. She is a good mother, and she wouldn’t let one little therapy session change her thinking. She laughed when Ellie squealed. 

“Mama! Mama!” she reached towards her. 

“Hi, my love.” Evie took her and gave her a kiss. She felt Mal’s arm wrap around her waist and leaned over to kiss her too. “And hello, my other love.” 

Mal kissed her cheek, then forehead. “How was therapy?” 

“As fun as you would imagine.” 

“Are you going to stay and watch practice or go back to the dorm?” 

Evie knew that if she went to the dorm and she was alone there with Ellie, there was a very high chance that she would throw up. She didn’t want to risk it. 

“Staying here.” 

Mal studied her. “You’ve got to start layering up, baby.” She rubbed over her arms. 

“I don’t feel that cold today.” Evie said, but she knew that pretty soon, she would. One of the many downsides of being underweight was that she was constantly freezing. Even though she had on a coat, her leggings were thin and so was the shirt she had on underneath. 

“Lucky for you, I thought ahead.” Evie noticed that Mal was holding a bag, which she recognized as the same one she had packed earlier for Ellie. She pulled out a blanket. “Wear my coat, and then you guys can wrap up in this.” Mal passed her the blanket, then took off her coat and gave it to Evie too. 

“Thank you, M.” Evie kissed her, then went to get situated on the bleachers. She put Mal’s coat on, then held Ellie on her lap (who she noticed was bundled up) and wrapped the blanket around both of them. 

Practice went by pretty quickly. Evie was exhausted, so she felt like she was half asleep by the end of it. She stood when she noticed Mal and the boys coming over, then started to shiver. 

“Cold?” Mal questioned knowingly. 

“Mmhmm.” Evie unwrapped the blanket from around her shoulders, wincing when the wind blew. Mal took the blanket and shoved it back into the bag. 

“Hop on.” Jay offered, turning around so his back was facing Evie. Normally, she would have pushed him away, but she was tired and freezing. She passed Ellie to Mal and then climbed onto Jay’s back, wrapping her arms around his neck. Jay’s hands gripped her thighs to keep her in place and Evie let her eyes close. 

Jay carried her the entire way back to the dorms. He even carried her up all of the stairs, then into the room. He dropped her onto the bed. 

“Thank you.” She said, leaning up to kiss Jay’s cheek. 

“Anything for you, Princess.” He threw his Tourney bag on the ground and then went over and sat on the couch, grabbing a video game controller. Carlos joined him a second later. 

Evie heard Ellie start to whine and she looked over, seeing that her daughter was reaching for her. “Mama!” 

“Bring her here, M.” Evie took Ellie from her girlfriend. “What’s wrong, little one? You’re okay.” She winced when Ellie pressed against her chest and figured that maybe she should feed her to relieve some of the pressure. “Want some milk?” 

Evie pulled her shirt off, then her bra. She sank back against the pillows and brought Ellie up to her chest, who latched on immediately. Evie felt her bite down and pulled her off. 

“No, Ellie. No biting.” She scolded before bringing her back up to her breast. This time, she latched on correctly. Evie leaned her head back and shut her eyes. 

She felt the bed dip, and then there were hands on her legs. She didn’t even have to look to know that it was Mal. Her heels were pulled off of her feet and she heard them drop to the ground, and then Mal started to rub her feet. She groaned loudly. 

“You need to stop wearing heels all the time, baby girl.” Mal chastised. “Especially if they’re making your feet hurt.” 

“You know I love heels.” Evie replied, her eyes still shut. 

“I know.” 

Evie was nearly asleep when she felt Mal’s hands drift up and start to rub her calves instead. She didn’t realize how tense she was until Mal started to massage her muscles. She opened her eyes and looked at Ellie, who was still wide awake but content at her breast. She switched her to the other side, smiling triumphantly when she latched onto it on the first try. 

When Mal’s hands stopped moving, Evie groaned. Then, she felt a kiss against her cheek. 

“Scoot up.” Mal whispered. Evie did as she said and Mal moved to sit behind her. Her hands instantly went to Evie’s lower back, earning a moan in return. “Is your back hurting you?” 

“Everything hurts.” Evie mumbled. “My body just feels so worn out.”

Mal kissed the back of her neck. “Just keep your eyes closed, my Princess. I’ll take care of you.”

The entire time Evie breastfed, Mal worked on rubbing her back, shoulders, and neck. By the time Ellie was finished, Evie’s body felt like a puddle. She turned around, straddling Mal’s lap, and kissed her cheek. 

“Thank you.” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal kissed her lips, letting them linger until Ellie started to babble. “Are you feeling left out, little princess?” she kissed Ellie’s forehead. She broke out into a smile that made her nose scrunch up. Mal hugged both of them close to her chest, and Evie just shut her eyes and rested her head on her shoulder. “Hey Carlos, can you check the meal plan and see what’s for dinner tonight?” 

“Yeah.” Evie heard the video game pause and then Carlos’s shuffling feet. “Hamburgers, green beans, and sweet potato fries.” 

“Are you cooking, or do you want me to?” Mal asked. 

Evie pulled herself up to a sitting position so they could make eye contact. “Can we just get something from the cafeteria tonight?” 

Mal frowned. “Are you okay?” 

“I just…I can’t do something big.” Evie’s eyes darted down to her lap. She didn’t want to see Mal stare at her in disappointment. 

“What are you thinking?” 

“Pineapples.” 

“I can tell it’s been a hard day.” Mal said, her hand going to Evie’s chin to tilt her face up. “I’m proud of you for at least eating pineapples, E. Something is better than skipping the meal altogether.” She smiled at her. 

Evie felt tears fill her eyes. She leaned forward, being careful not to crush Ellie between them, and pressed their foreheads together. “Thank you for being so patient with me. You have no idea how much I need that right now.” 

“I’ve got you, pretty baby.” Mal pressed their lips together. 

“You’re scarring the baby!” Jay said in fake surprise, snatching Ellie out of Evie’s arms. She didn’t protest, instead taking the opportunity to get even closer to Mal. She was still shirtless, and she shivered at the feeling of Mal’s fingertips running over her back. 

“Go get dinner.” Mal ordered. “Bring back pineapples.” 

“I thought we were having burgers.”

“Now we’re not.” Evie couldn’t see Mal’s face from where she was cuddled into her, but she imagined she was glaring at Jay. “Carlos, will you watch Ellie?” 

“Yep.” 

Evie heard movement as Jay brought Ellie over to Carlos, then left the room. She knew that she needed to get up. There was no way that Mal would believe she was okay if she was practically passed out on her lap.

“We need to do homework.” She reminded the others. “Plus I have to finish a couple of orders.” In the past week, Evie had received three different orders, and she was hoping to have them finished by this weekend; that was easier said than done considering that she hadn’t even started. 

“Why don’t you work on your orders now, and we can do homework after dinner?” Mal suggested. Evie nodded in agreement, and Mal slid out from underneath her. She disappeared into the closet for a second, then returned with one of her sweaters. Evie took the purple material and pulled it over her head, relaxing immediately at her girlfriend’s scent. “Come on, Princess. Get to work.” 

Evie followed her directions and went over to her desk. She tried to get started, but she kept hearing Ellie whine. She felt like her mom instincts were on overload and she glanced over her shoulder, seeing that Ellie looked upset. 

“What’s wrong with her?” she questioned. Carlos was on the floor with Ellie and Mal was walking around the room, gathering clothes that needed to be put in the laundry hamper. 

“Sorry, E.” Carlos called, trying to hand Ellie another toy. 

“I’ve got her.” Mal said, putting down the basket and going to sit by their daughter instead. 

Evie turned back around to her sewing machine. She wanted to finish at least one of the outfits tonight. She didn’t know the girls that she was making clothes for very well, but they were friends of Lonnie’s and had been recommended to her after seeing what she made for Lonnie, Jane, and Ben. She was excited to get these three orders over with so that she could spend the money on new materials that she would use to make more clothes for Ellie. 

As soon as she thought of her daughter, she heard her start crying. She turned again and saw that Mal was already on her feet and rocking Ellie in her arms. Evie could tell that she was tired and grumpy. 

“Here, I’ll take her.” Evie offered. She stood and went over to Mal. 

“She’s okay. Just keep working.” 

When Ellie saw her, she instantly reached out. Mal sighed, but handed the baby over to Evie. Ellie cuddled into her and was still whimpering. 

“Shhh, no more crying, sweet girl. You’re alright.” Evie carried her over to her desk and sat down. “Do you want to watch Mama work?” 

Evie resumed what she had been doing, seeing that Ellie was watching quietly. It was a lot harder to do with only one hand, but she did her best. Right when she got into a good rhythm, Jay came in with dinner. 

She sighed, but turned off her sewing machine. She carried Ellie over to the living area and sat down on the couch, keeping her daughter on her lap. 

“Want me to hold her so you can eat?” Mal asked. Evie wasn’t stupid; she had noticed that her friends always offered to take Ellie during meal times so that Evie could focus on eating. Normally, she didn’t make a big deal out of it because she knew that she really did need to pay attention to eating instead of trying to entertain Ellie. But today, she knew that Ellie was being a little clingy and it probably wouldn’t be for the best. 

“No, I can hold her.” Evie reassured her girlfriend. She took the cup of pineapples that Jay passed to her and then grabbed a fork. 

“Water.” Mal told her, putting a bottle of water in front of her. 

“Thanks.” Evie really wasn’t in the mood to eat or drink anything, but she knew she had to be healthy. Even though she was still fighting back the feeling that she needed to throw up, she was going to try her best. 

It took her as long to finish half the cup of pineapples as it did for everyone else to eat their entire meal. She was exhausted and ready to stop, but she knew that she didn’t have lunch and that Mal wouldn’t be happy. Evie knew she wasn’t supposed to eat based on Mal’s feelings, but they still played a large part in her eating struggles. 

By the time Evie finished her pineapples, everyone else looked bored half to death. Ellie whined, reaching out for Mal.

“Are you hungry?” she asked. “Do you want some of your baby food?” 

“I’ll get it.” Evie said before going over to the drawer where they kept it.

“Hmmm, I wonder what Mama is getting for you.” Mal put Ellie into the high chair and pulled her sweater off so that she was just in a onesie and her little white leggings, then put a bib on her. Ellie’s bow was long gone, and she had kicked off her boots the minute they got back to the room. Evie handed her the jar of food. “Oh wow, Ellie, you get to have carrots!” 

Evie went to walk over to her desk, but Ellie started to whine. The eight month old attempted to turn her chair so that she could see where her mother had gone. 

Mal opened the jar of baby food and brought a spoonful up to Ellie’s lips. “Open up, El.” Ellie let out another whine and Mal put the spoon in her mouth. Ellie spit it out, causing it to run down her chin. 

Evie sighed and went back over. As soon as Evie was in her sightline, Ellie calmed down. She took her second bite of carrots with no problem, her eyes glued to Evie. 

“I think she missed you today.” Mal commented. “Do you want to feed her and I’ll start getting stuff ready for her bath?” 

“Yeah, that’s fine.” Evie agreed. She took the jar of food and Mal walked away. But right when Mal disappeared, Ellie started to whine again. “Come on, baby. Eat your food.” Evie fed her spoonful and Ellie began to cry. “M, come here.” 

Mal came out of the bathroom and over to her girls. “What’s wrong? Is she getting sick or something? She’s never been whiny like this.” 

Evie watched her daughter. Ellie was calm when she saw Mal again. “I think she just wants both of us to stay right here.” She glanced at her girlfriend. “Remember when I told you about separation anxiety?” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal smiled at Ellie. “You like seeing your moms together, don’t you?” she reached out and smoothed a piece of Ellie’s hair down. “Lucky for you, I love when we’re all together too.” 

Evie couldn’t help but smile. Mal was already so soft when she was around Evie, and that was only multiplied when Ellie was there too. She was so good at talking to their daughter and taking care of her. She must have been staring at her for too long because she heard Mal laugh. 

“I guess Mama is just going to stare all day instead of feeding you.” She teased. 

Evie blushed, but gave a spoonful of carrots to Ellie. She felt Mal’s lips press against her cheek. They both grimaced when Ellie stuck her hand in her mouth, smearing the carrots all over cheek. 

By the time Ellie was finished with her dinner, she was covered in carrots. Evie and Mal gave her a bath together, then got her dressed in pajamas. 

“I need to work on my designs.” Evie admitted. 

“We’ll sit and watch you.” Mal pulled a chair over so she could sit next to Evie. She held Ellie on her lap and read her a story while Evie tried to get some of her work done.

She made a little progress, but it wasn’t long before Ellie was whining again. Evie glanced at the clock and saw that it was time for her bedtime feeding. She tucked away her materials, knowing that she would have to be done for the night. 

“Do you want us to wait for you to start homework?” Carlos questioned. 

“No, we can do it now.” Evie said before going to sit on her and Mal’s bed. “M, can you grab my backpack, please?” 

Mal brought both of their backpacks over and sat on the end of the bed. The boys sat on the floor next to them. Evie pulled her shirt off and got Ellie situated, then grabbed her English notebook. 

After a few minutes, Evie gave up on her homework. Ellie was being difficult and wiggling around every time she moved to write something down, and it was more important for her daughter to get to bed than it was for her to do her work right then. She sighed and dropped her notebook on the bed, then leaned back so she could hold Ellie better. 

“She’s grumpy tonight.” Mal told her. 

“I just hope she goes to sleep.” 

Unfortunately for Evie, it took much longer than normal to get Ellie to finally fall asleep. By the time she put her in her crib, it was already 9:30- and hour and a half after Ellie’s bedtime. Evie was exhausted and her nipples were beyond sore. 

“Come here.” Mal called out after Evie carefully transferred Ellie to her crib. The boys and Mal had finished their homework already, so the purple haired girl was waiting for her on their bed. She had an unfamiliar tube in her hand and reached an arm out for Evie, wrapping it around her waist and pulling her onto her lap. “I called Dr. Rhodes today and talked to her about how when you breastfed Ellie on the Isle, your nipples would get sore and you were in pain. She brought over this cream and said it should help.” 

Evie watched as Mal squirted some of the cream out, then carefully rubbed it onto her nipples. Evie winced. She knew breastfeeding was the best thing to help Ellie right now, but it wasn’t easy. 

“Lay down and let it dry.” Mal gave her a kiss, then turned their bodies so that she could lay Evie on the bed. “You’re so amazing, you know that? You’re already going through a lot, but now you’re adding in breastfeeding to make sure our baby is healthy. You are an amazing mother, Evie.” 

She didn’t know if it was because of what happened in therapy today, or if maybe she was having some hormonal changes from breastfeeding, but Evie’s eyes welled up with tears. She cupped Mal’s cheek in her hand. 

“What’s wrong?” Mal asked gently. 

“I love you.” Evie stated, causing Mal to smile. “I don’t know why I’m crying. I’m just so tired and I still have so much stuff to do. I need to do my homework and work on those orders.” 

“What can I help you with?” 

“Did you suddenly learn how to sew?”

“No, but I can do something. You’re stressed, E. Teach me so I can make things easier for you.” 

Evie sat up after the cream was dry. Mal handed her shirt to her and Evie slid it over her head, then led her girlfriend to her desk. She gave her a pair of scissors and instructed her on how to cut the material. Then, she sat next to her and got to work on her homework. 

It was almost midnight by the time Evie finished all of her work, including a project for Fashion class that she had totally forgotten about. She was close to falling asleep sitting up when Mal kissed her forehead. 

“Are you done with your work?” 

“Mmhmm.” Evie sighed. “I still have to shower.” 

“Come on.” Mal grabbed her hand. They quickly showered together, then practically collapsed into bed. “It was hard staying home with Ellie all day. Taking care of a baby is a lot of work.” 

“I know.” Evie agreed. She leaned up to give her a kiss. “Thank you.”

“You don’t have to thank me for taking care of our daughter.” 

Evie felt like she might start crying again, so she just cuddled into Mal’s chest and closed her eyes. Mal’s hand slid under her shirt to rub her back and it didn’t take long before Evie finally fell asleep. 

\-----

Mal was used to always waking up first. She was a light sleeper, and she could survive on less hours of sleep than most people. 

She had gotten used to opening her eyes and seeing Evie. Her girlfriend was the exact opposite when it came to sleep. Evie slept heavily (unless Ellie started crying, which Mal believed had to do with some kind of motherly intuition), and she needed a lot of sleep to function properly. She almost always woke up before Evie, and she would hold the blue haired girl into her arms, kissing her forehead, cheeks, and lips and whispering to her. Evie’s lips pouted on their own while she slept, her eyelashes would flutter if Mal stroked her cheeks, and she always let out a content sigh if Mal played with her hair. 

But this morning, there was no pouty lips or eyelashes or sighing. Mal opened her eyes when she heard a sound, and she looked around in alarm. The dorm room was still dark, and when she looked at the clock, she saw that it was 4am. 

Then, she heard the sound again. It only took a second before she realized that it was Evie. She looked at her girlfriend and saw that she was frowning, her body was tense, and she was sweating. 

Evie let out a high pitched whimper and Mal felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She had talked Evie out of many nightmares in the past, but it was always scary. She hadn’t had one since the health center, and Mal was honestly a little surprised that it had taken this long to happen. 

“Baby, it’s time to wake up now.” She said firmly. Mal stroked her fingers up and down Evie’s arm. 

“Please…” Evie begged in her sleep, her voice sounding choked up. Her breathing was getting quicker and she was starting to shake. 

“Evie, open your eyes.” Mal rubbed her stomach. “Come on, Princess. You’re okay.” 

“No!” Evie cried out. “Ellie…” 

Mal’s heart broke knowing that her girlfriend was dreaming about her daughter. She couldn’t even imagine the demons that were plaguing her right now. 

“What’s wrong?” she heard Carlos ask from across the room. 

“Nightmare.” Mal said before turning her attention back to Evie. She tried to pull her into a sitting position, but Evie screamed. 

“No! Don’t touch me!” she yelled, yanking away from Mal so hard the she fell off of the bed. Mal jumped up, seeing that Evie was on the floor in the fetal position. “Not my baby. Please, Mother…” 

“Evie, we’re in Auradon.” Mal told her as she reached for her hand. “Your mom isn’t here. You’re safe.” 

As soon as Mal touched her, Evie screamed again. Her eyes flew open and she sat up, bringing her knees to her chest. She started to rock. 

“No, no, no…” she chanted as she started to cry. “My baby. Please, my baby.” 

“You’re okay, baby girl. It’s Mal.” 

Evie instantly scooted over, squeezing herself in the spot between the bed and the nightstand. Mal didn’t know what to do; Evie had never reacted so negatively to her touch or voice before. 

“No more, Mother. Please no more.” Evie begged through her tears. Her breathing was coming in gasps and Mal knew that she needed to get her calmed down as soon as possible. 

“She’s not here.” Mal whispered. “You’re okay, Evie. Ellie is safe and so are you.” 

Evie just kept sobbing, the sound practically echoing off the walls in the otherwise silent room. Mal sat in front of her, feeling tears start to run down her own cheeks as she watched her girl struggle. 

Then, Evie was gasping for air. She sounded like she was drowning and Mal had no idea how to help her. 

“Please, baby. Please let me help you.” Mal pleaded. “You need to breathe, E.” she felt like she was being punched in the stomach every time Evie choked on a strangled sob. 

Mal couldn’t wait anymore. She needed Evie to breathe. She reached out, putting both of her hands on Evie’s knees. She tried not to take it personally when she felt her flinch. 

“Listen to my voice, Evie. It’s Mal. You know that I would never let anyone hurt you. You are safe in Auradon. Ellie is across the room in her crib. You’re alright, but you need to breathe.” 

“M-M-Mal.” Evie whimpered, but still didn’t look up. 

Mal did the only thing she could think of. She grabbed Evie’s calves and yanked them, pulling her out of the tiny space she had managed to squeeze into. Evie’s cries intensified, but Mal just lifted her up. She brought her over to the window seat that was in the living area of the room and threw open the window. The cool November air blew directly onto them. Mal put her hand on the back of Evie’s neck and pulled her forward until she was right in front of the window. 

Evie’s entire body was trembling, but she finally took a breath. Mal rubbed her back, hoping to help her lungs start working again. She leaned her head against the wall next to the window, just listening to Evie’s gasps. 

“You are safe, baby girl.” She stated once Evie finally started to breathe. “You have me, and Jay, and Carlos, and Ellie. We’re all together and everyone is okay. Right now, you just need to breathe, my love.” 

“Mal…”

“I’m here.” She leaned forward and kissed Evie’s temple now that she knew her girlfriend was a little more coherent. They sat there in front of the window until Evie’s breathing was back to normal and her skin was cold to the touch. “Are you ready to go back to bed?”

“Can we sit in the bathroom?” 

“Whatever you need, baby.” Mal stood, then reached out a hand for Evie. She held her stand and then closed the window. When they turned around, she noticed that Carlos and Jay were both awake and watching them. Right as they got to the bathroom door, Ellie started to cry. 

“I’ve got her.” Jay announced, jumping up to go get the baby. 

Mal trusted that he could handle it. She followed Evie into the bathroom and shut the door behind them. Evie climbed into the empty bathtub, sitting with her back against the tiled wall. She pulled her knees up to her chest. 

Mal got into the bathtub next to her. She studied her girlfriend. Evie was still tense and clearly upset, but at least she was breathing again. Her eyes drifted down to Evie’s hands. She noticed that she was touching the indigo ring Mal had bought her so long ago; the ring that Mal intended on replacing with an engagement ring one day. Evie twisted it around and around her finger as she stared blankly ahead. 

Mal grabbed her left hand and brought it over, pressing her lips against the top of it. She could tell that Evie wasn’t ready to be cuddled yet- sometimes after a nightmare or panic attack, she had a really strong aversion to touch. 

“Why do you like to sit in the bathtub sometimes?” Mal asked gently. She just wanted to hear Evie’s voice. She needed to hear her speak and know that she would be okay. 

“It’s smaller.” Evie nearly whispered. “More closed in. I can see all sides and no one can get near me without me seeing.” 

Mal felt a pang in her chest. “Do you want to talk about your nightmare?” 

“Not really.” 

“You were crying for Ellie.” Mal brushed some loose strands of Evie’s hair behind her ear. “Baby, as long as you keep all this in, you’re going to keep hurting. I need you to talk to me. I know that you’re not okay, even if you’re trying to put on a brave face.” She stroked her cheek. 

Evie leaned into her touch. “I don’t know what to do anymore. If I break, then I don’t know if I can be put back together.” 

Mal turned Evie’s face towards hers so she could press their foreheads together. “No matter how long it takes me, I will find all your pieces. I will never give up on you.” 

Evie sighed, her eyes fluttering shut. “I know you’re here, M. I just need you to be patient with me for a little longer.” 

Mal didn’t like it, and it went against every instinct in her body, but she was trying to be better. She was trying to trust that Evie knew her own limits. “I’m always here, no matter what.” She promised. “Is there anything you need right now?”

Evie leaned her head over on Mal’s shoulder, then intertwined her right hand with Mal’s left. “Stay with me.” 

Mal nodded. “Forever.”

\-----

Audrey couldn’t help but notice that Evie seemed a little…off. First of all, the blue haired girl looked exhausted. She was still gorgeous, but Audrey could see her sluggish movements and the tiredness in her eyes. Second, she was dressed in a purple sweater and leggings. For the whole two and a half months she had known Evie, the girl rarely showed up in something so simple. Third, every time she saw her friend, she was clinging to Mal. That wasn’t _completely_ unusual, but paired with everything else, it seemed weird. 

She had tried to ask Evie if she was alright during Fashion, but Evie just brushed her off. Audrey knew they weren’t exactly best friends, but she was a little offended by her dismissal. 

After school, Audrey went to Mrs. Andrews’ classroom for sewing club. She noticed immediately that Evie wasn’t there, making it the fourth meeting she had missed in the past two weeks. 

“Audrey, have you spoken to Evie? Is she planning on coming?” Mrs. Andrews asked her once everyone else got to work. 

“I’m not sure. She has a lot going on right now.” 

“She has too much talent to let it go to waste.” 

“I agree. I’ll try and talk to her.” Audrey didn’t know if the teachers were informed that Evie had a daughter, so she tried to keep her answer short and simple. 

As soon as sewing club ended, Audrey had to grab her bag and hurry to the Tourney field. Her Tuesdays and Thursdays were stressful since she had sewing club and cheer, but she loved both of the activities and tried her best to always be there. She rushed into the locker room and changed into her cheerleading warm-ups before going out on the field. 

She looked towards the bleachers and instantly spotted Evie. It wasn’t hard, considering that there were only a couple people sitting around and watching practice. It had gotten cold, so not many people hung around the field anymore. Audrey had seen Evie there almost every day with Ellie, but usually she was too busy to go over and talk.

Today, she was going to change that. 

Audrey went over to the other girl, taking in the sight in front of her. Evie was wrapped in a coat that she recognized as Mal’s, and she had Ellie bundled up on her lap. The adorable baby was smiling and babbling at Evie, but the sixteen year old was quiet. 

“Hi Evie.” Audrey greeted. She was surprised when Evie jumped. 

“Hi.” Evie said quietly, forcing a smile. 

“And hello to you, Ellie.” She waved at the little girl. “She gets cuter every time I see her.” 

“She’s pretty perfect.” Evie agreed. She pressed her lips to the top of the baby’s head and then hugged her closer. 

“I just wanted to make sure you’re okay. You seemed upset during school today, and you haven’t been to sewing club in a while. Mrs. Andrews was asking about you.” 

Evie finally made eye contact. “She was?” 

“Mmhmm, she wanted to know if you were coming back.” 

“Is she mad that I wasn’t there?” 

Audrey thought that was a strange question. “No, I wouldn’t say she was mad. She was just worried about you. I didn’t know what to say, so I said I would talk to you. Do the teachers know about Ellie?” 

“I don’t know.” Evie answered. 

Audrey made a mental note to talk to Ben about that. “Mrs. Andrews said you have too much talent to let it go to waste.” 

“I don’t think I can go anymore, Audrey.” 

The cheerleader raised an eyebrow at her. “Why not?” 

Evie gestured towards Ellie. “I need to be with my daughter.” 

“It’s only two days a week. Why can’t Mal keep her since Tourney isn’t until after sewing club?” 

“Because Ellie is my responsibility.” Evie’s voice was harsh, and it was obvious that the blue haired girl didn’t mean for it to be that way. She shut her eyes and sighed. “I’m sorry.” 

“You deserve to do things you enjoy too, Evie. Being a mother doesn’t change that.” Audrey looked over, seeing that the cheer squad was getting into position. “I’ll see you tomorrow, okay?” 

“Okay.” 

Audrey went over to join the rest of her team. All throughout practice, the conversation with Evie kept drifting back to her mind. From what she had seen, Mal and the boys didn’t seem to have a problem with helping with Ellie. She didn’t understand why Evie didn’t just ask. 

After practice, the cheer team went to the locker room to change clothes. Because Mal was the only girl on the Tourney team, her locker was in the same room as the cheerleaders so that she didn’t have to change in front of all the boys. Audrey changed quickly and approached the purple haired girl when she noticed she was dressed. 

“Mal!” she called out to her. 

The shorter girl turned towards her, her eyes holding that same tiredness that Evie’s had. “Hey Audrey.” 

“I just wanted to check with you and make sure Evie is alright.” 

Mal frowned. “Why wouldn’t she be alright?” 

“She hasn’t been to sewing club in two weeks.” 

Mal looked surprised by that information. “Really?” 

“Yeah, Mrs. Andrews is worried about her. She said she has too much talent to waste.” 

“Is that what you were talking to her about before practice?” Mal asked. Audrey wasn’t surprised that she had noticed; it seemed like Mal spent half of practice focused on Tourney and the other half focused on Evie. 

“Yes.”

“What did she say?” 

“She said that she needs to be with Ellie, and that she can’t ask you to watch her because Ellie is her responsibility.” 

Audrey could see Mal’s jaw lock and her hands clench into fists. But as quickly as the reaction came, it disappeared. 

“I’ll talk to her and see what I can do. Thanks for telling me.” 

“Of course. Let me know if I can help.” Audrey said, watching as Mal grabbed her bag and then left the room. She felt a little bad for meddling, but she thought Evie deserved to be happy. Hopefully Mal could talk some sense into her. 

\-----

As soon as they got home from practice, Evie practically collapsed into bed. She was exhausted, but she didn’t want to sleep. She was too scared to sleep and have another nightmare. 

School had been fine, but Evie had barely been able to focus. She ate a little bit of her breakfast that morning, and half of her lunch, so she wasn’t doing horrible in that aspect. Carlos stayed home with Ellie, so she hadn’t seen her daughter until after school (besides her morning feeding). Mal had tried to talk Evie into staying at the dorm instead of going to practice, but Evie didn’t want to be alone. Now that practice was over, she knew it was time to feed Ellie. Evie took her shirt off and laid in bed, pulling Ellie into her arms and helping her latch on. 

She felt Mal before she actually saw her. Even though she didn’t touch her, Evie could sense that she was nearby. She opened her eyes, seeing that Mal was sitting on the bed next to her. 

“Why didn’t you go to sewing club?” she asked. 

Evie sighed and rolled her eyes. “Let me guess, Audrey said something?”

“I completely forgot you had sewing club with everything else going on. She says you haven’t been there in two weeks.” Mal’s eyes scanned over her face and Evie felt a little nervous under her intense gaze. “Why is that?”

“Because I’ve been taking care of Ellie.”

“I would have watched her.” Mal was quiet for a moment. “Did you tell Audrey that Ellie is your responsibility?” 

“Yes.” Evie answered easily. “She is.” 

“Okay, but that’s not how this works anymore, Evie. If Ellie is ours, then she is our responsibility. Do you not trust me to watch her?”

“What? Of course I do.” Evie said incredulously. Obviously she trusted her or she would have left Ellie with her while she was at school. 

“Then why didn’t you say something?” 

“Because I don’t care about sewing club. There are more important things going on right now. Ellie is my priority.” 

“You loved sewing club, and you like Mrs. Andrews. I know Ellie is important, but you need a break sometimes, E. You deserve to leave the dorm for a little while and do something that you think is fun.” 

“I can’t do it anyway.” Evie informed her. “You have therapy on Tuesdays.” 

Mal gave her a look. “You know that one of the boys would watch her with no problem.” 

Evie was over this conversation. She just wanted to lay here and rest so that she didn’t feel like she was about to fall over anymore. “They shouldn’t have to.” 

Right after she spoke, the dorm room door opened. The boys had gone to their room to drop off their Tourney bags and change clothes, and now they were back. They both stopped when they realized Evie and Mal were staring at them. 

“What’s up?” Jay asked curiously. 

“Do you have a problem with watching Ellie?” Mal demanded. 

“No…?” Jay answered, obviously confused about where that had come from. 

“Why would we have a problem?” Carlos questioned. 

Mal turned back to look at Evie. “See?” 

She sighed. “You’re making this a bigger deal than it needs to be, Mal.” 

“It is a big deal! You don’t get to make choices for everyone. We’re a team, remember?” 

“What’s going on?” Carlos interrupted. 

“Evie hasn’t been going to sewing club because she says Ellie is her responsibility and she needs to be here with her after school.” 

“That’s stupid.” Jay chimed in. “We can watch her anytime, Princess.” 

“I’m not going to push her off on all of you.” 

Evie felt Mal’s hand under her back and she forced her into a sitting position. “Listen to me. If I’m really going to be Ellie’s Mommy, then you need to realize that you’re not doing this on your own. I don’t want you to think that you have to make decisions that jeopardize your happiness. I want to be involved with everything having to do with Ellie.” She squeezed her hand. “You have people to support you, E. We’re all here.” 

Evie sighed. She knew that Mal was right, and that it wasn’t fair for her to claim that she was the only one responsible for Ellie. “I’m sorry.”

“Don’t apologize. Just don’t forget that I’m here for you, _both of you_ , okay?” Mal gave her a quick kiss, then looked at the boys. “Alright, so I can watch Ellie on Thursdays after school. Can one of you watch her on Tuesdays while I’m at therapy and Evie is at sewing club?” 

“We both will.” Jay agreed easily, earning a nod from Carlos. “We’ve got your back, E.” 

Evie just nodded and leaned her head against Mal. “M?” 

“Hmmm?” 

“Thank you.” Evie relaxed against her, finally letting some of the weight off her shoulders. 

\-----

On Thursday night, Evie barely slept. Because of this, Mal was up most of the night too. Mal couldn’t wait until the weekend when she could actually take care of Evie’s needs. Right now, they were just struggling to stay afloat with their school work, therapy, and Ellie. But on the plus side, Evie was able to finish two of her clothing orders. 

Friday was pretty much the same as Thursday. School wasn’t bad, but Evie was still pretty out of it. Jay stayed with Ellie, but ended up going to Goodness class and they all had lunch together. Doug came and was introduced to Ellie, and his reaction was pretty positive. There was no Tourney practice that day, so they got to hang out together after school. The boys played video games, Mal took care of Ellie, and Evie finished her final clothing order. They had dinner together and watched a movie, and Evie was passed out in Mal’s arms by 7:30pm. Mal had to reluctantly wake her so she could do Ellie’s nighttime feed and afterwards, they both fell into an exhausted sleep. 

When Saturday rolled around, it was time for a Tourney game. Mal was glad that she had finally slept, but she was still worried about Evie. That nightmare and that fact that it was so hard to snap Evie out of it had scared the shit out of Mal, and she was nervous to let the other girl leave her sight. 

Evie had just finished feeding Ellie an early lunch so that she wasn’t hungry during the Tourney game. Mal went over and sat next to her. 

“Do you need help finding your stuff?” she questioned. 

Mal looked at her. She hadn’t brushed her hair yet, her face was completely free of makeup, she was dressed in only a t-shirt and underwear, and she looked exhausted. She pulled her into her arms. 

“I just want to hold you for a minute, okay?” 

“Mmhmm.” Evie hummed in response, practically melting into her. 

Mal held her close and breathed in the scent that was uniquely Evie. She needed to believe that her girl would be okay. Even though she was still struggling with her demons and trying to keep them hidden, she was going to be fine. She would talk when she was ready. 

She felt Evie’s soft lips press against her neck. “Love you.” She whispered.

“Love you more.” Mal pulled back so she could kiss her lips, letting them linger for a second. When she studied Evie now, she was happy to see that her demeanor had changed. She didn’t seem as lost. 

“I’ll braid your hair. Sit on the floor.” Evie directed. Mal sat down on the floor in front of her girlfriend. She looked over, seeing that Ellie was still content on her blanket with her toys. 

Evie worked quickly but carefully, running her fingers through Mal’s hair to get rid of any tangles. She sighed contently when Evie started to pull her hair into a French braid. When she finished, she kissed the top of her head. 

“Your uniform is in the bathroom, everything else is by your Tourney bag in the closet.” Evie informed her.

“Are you going to wear your special jersey today?” Mal couldn’t deny that the possessive part of her absolutely loved when Evie wore a shirt that had her name on it. 

“Yes.” Evie stood, running a hand through her own hair. “I need to start getting ready.” 

“Or you could just go like this.” 

Evie looked at her in annoyance. “Yeah, I’ll show up to your game in my underwear.” 

“I meant without makeup.” Mal kissed the tip of her nose. “You’re beautiful, baby.” 

Evie shook her head with a blush and walked into the bathroom. “Keep an eye on Ellie, please.” 

“I’ve got her.” Mal went over and sat on the ground next to the eight month old. “What are you up to, sweet girl? Are you excited to watch Mommy and Jay and Carlos play Tourney? Are you going to keep Mama from hurting herself?”

“I can hear you!” Evie called. 

“I know.” Mal responded. “Seriously, E. You always leave Tourney games with bruises on your arms and a busted lip. Try to relax today.” 

“How about you stay on your feet?” Evie challenged.

“I’ll do my best.” Mal agreed. It didn’t take long before Evie came out. The top layer of her hair was pulled into a bun while the bottom was down and straight. She was wearing her makeup and jewelry already, but she hadn’t gotten dressed yet. 

“You need to start getting ready.” Evie chastised. “Where are the boys?”

“They said they were showering and getting ready in their dorm and then meeting us here.” Mal reminded her. “I’m sure they’ll be here soon.” She stood, going over to Evie and wrapping her arms around her from behind. “Do you want me to get Ellie dressed?”

“No, I’ve got her. Just go get ready.” She watched as Evie grabbed a pair of jeans and the jersey she had made. 

“Put a sweatshirt on under that. It’s going to be cold.” Mal said. 

“I will.” Evie reached up, pulling down one of her royal blue sweaters from the shelf.

“And some leggings underneath the jeans.” 

Evie turned around and stared at her, clearly irritated. “I’ve got it, Mal. Go get ready!” 

“Alright, alright. Geez, Ellie, you can’t even take care of a girl without her biting your head off.” She smiled when she heard Evie laugh inside the closet.

Mal went into the bathroom and washed her face, then brushed her teeth. Since her hair was already done, she didn’t have to worry about that. She pulled on her Tourney uniform and looked over, seeing that Evie was dressed and standing next to the changing table with Ellie. Mal couldn’t help but smile. 

“You look amazing, Pretty Girl.” She rested her hands on Evie’s hips and put her chin on her shoulder. She gasped in surprise when she noticed what Ellie was wearing. 

“Surprise!” Evie said, grinning at Mal’s reaction.

Ellie was wearing a tiny version of Mal’s jersey. It was the same royal blue with the yellow stitching, and it had the number 6. Evie lifted her up and turned her around so Mal could see the back. Instead of saying ‘Mal’, like Mal’s jersey and the one Evie had made, it said ‘Mommy’. 

It took every ounce of willpower for Mal not to cry. Instead, she grabbed Evie’s cheeks and smashed their lips together. She ran her tongue along Evie’s lips, immediately fighting her for control once they parted. She backed Evie into the changing table, reaching behind her to put a hand on Ellie’s stomach so that their daughter didn’t roll off and get hurt. 

“You’re fucking perfect, you know that?” she rested her forehead on Evie’s as they tried to catch their breath. “You’ve given me everything I could ever want.”

“You’ve done the same for me.” Evie leaned in and gave her another quick kiss, then turned around to pick up Ellie. She reached into the drawer that held her bows and pulled out a yellow hat that perfectly matched the uniform, then put it on the baby’s head. “You’re going to be late if we don’t get moving.” 

“Did you pack a diaper bag?”

“Mmhmm.” 

“Did you put a blanket in it?”

“I’m not going to need a blanket.” 

“Babe, you’re always cold. You should pack one just in case.” Mal scanned her eyes over her. “Are you sure you guys want to go? It’s cold out, you don’t have to.”

“We wouldn’t miss it.” Evie insisted. 

The door opened a second later and Jay and Carlos walked in. Mal took Ellie from Evie and held her out so the boys could see. 

“Look at this!” she turned her around so they could read the back. “Isn’t she the cutest thing in the world?” 

“That’s really cute, Eves.” Carlos agreed. 

“When did you even have time for that?” Jay wondered. 

“It was actually really hard to finish it. I’m surprised that I got it done in time.” Evie picked up Ellie’s diaper bag and went to put on her coat. 

“Wait!” Mal called out, causing Evie to stop. “I want a picture first.” 

Evie sighed. “M, we don’t have time.” 

“I don’t give a fuck about the game. I want a picture of my girls.” She handed Ellie to Evie. 

“We really need to start a swear jar.” Carlos commented. 

Mal ignored him and pulled out her phone. She snapped a few pictures of Evie and Ellie, then made them turn around so she could get the back of their jerseys. She smiled at their absolute perfection. 

“Seriously, we need to go.” Evie insisted, practically pushing the three of them out the door. Mal put her arm around Evie’s waist and pulled her close, feeling the cold chill of the air as they walked to the Tourney field. 

“If it gets too cold, don’t feel like you have to stay.” Mal told her. “I don’t want either of you to get sick.” 

“We’ll be fine.” Evie reassured her. Once they got to the bleachers, she turned to look at her. “Good luck, babe. See you after the game.”

Mal leaned up and gave her a kiss, then watched as Evie took her usual seat by Lonnie and Doug. She could see the others gushing over Ellie’s little jersey and it made her smile. 

“I swear, you’re such a fucking sap.” Jay teased. 

Mal rolled her eyes. “When you find someone who can put up with your annoying ass one day, you’ll understand.” She went to put her stuff in the locker room. 

The Auradon Fighting Knights were playing the Sherwood Forest Falcons today. Mal felt prepared for anything the other team threw her way. 

The whole first half of the game was pretty easy. Mal did get knocked down once, but she jumped right back up and got back into the game. Jay and Ben each scored a point, while the Falcons hadn’t been able to get past their defense to score at all, making the score 2-0. 

In the second half, it was almost like the Falcons had given up. Jay scored another point, while Mal scored two. She looked over at Evie both times, seeing the proud smile on her girlfriend’s face. Evie had held Ellie up, shaking her little hands around as if she was cheering. 

As the game came closer to ending, Mal looked at the bleachers and saw that Evie wasn’t there anymore. She wondered if maybe she had gotten cold and decided to leave, but then she noticed her standing near the cheerleaders. She was bouncing Ellie up and down and pacing, and Mal figured the baby must have gotten annoyed with being forced to sit for so long. 

Evie looked up and made eye contact with her, then smiled. Mal waved at her, then got back into the game. 

The final score was 5-0, and it was obvious that the boys on the other team were pissed. When they were shaking hands at the end, she had gotten more than a few shoulder bumps, but she tried not to let it provoke her. She just wanted to go back to the dorm with Evie and Ellie.

Jay and Carlos went right to the locker room. Mal took a second to jog over to Evie so she could check on her. 

“You guys good?”

“Yeah, Ellie was just getting cranky, so I thought walking would be better.” Evie smiled. “You did such a good job, M. I’m so proud of you.” 

“I scored those points for you, baby.” She gave Evie a quick kiss. “I’m going to go change, I’ll be back.” 

When she was walking towards the locker room, she heard two of the guys from the opposite team talking. 

“Auradon’s team is a joke anyway. They let villains play, and one of them is a girl…”

Mal rolled her eyes. She had heard pretty much every comment known to man about her being a girl and playing Tourney. It was getting old. She decided to ignore it and walked past them. 

“…and did you see that other Isle girl? Apparently she has a baby.” 

“Even just by looking at her, you can tell she’s a slut. I’m sure she has no idea who the dad is.” 

“I bet she gets on her knees for any guy who asks.” 

Mal swiveled around, approaching the boys. That was something she absolutely couldn’t stand for. They saw her coming and turned to face her. 

“What do you want, bitch?” one of them snarled. 

Mal used all the strength in her body to swing her fist directly at his face. She couldn’t help but smile when she heard the satisfying crack of her fist colliding with his nose. The other guy tried to come near her, but she whipped around kicked his legs out from under him. She turned back to the first boy and hit him again. 

“Don’t you _ever_ talk about her like that again. You know nothing about the Isle or the people on it.” The second guy grabbed her right wrist, so she turned and punched him with her left instead. All she could see was red as she continued to put all her strength into teaching them a lesson. 

“Mal!” she heard someone yell. Suddenly, she was being pulled up and away from the two boys. She intended on punching whoever it was that interrupted her, but she stopped right before she hit Ben. 

“Get off.” She growled. 

“Why are you fighting them? What happened?” he demanded. 

“They were talking about things they have no business commenting on.” She nearly lunged for them again, but Ben stepped in front of her. She watched as the guys ran away, disappearing into the locker room. 

“M!” she turned at the sweet sound of her girlfriend’s voice, seeing the worried look on her face. “What just happened? Are you okay?” 

“I’m fine, baby.” She reached out towards Evie, but realized her mistake a second too late. Her knuckles on her right hand were bloody and busted. “It’s not a big deal.”

“It is a big deal!” Evie shouted. 

“Let’s not do this here.” Ben said. He led them towards the locker room so they were away from everyone else. They stopped in the hallway right in front of the actual room. 

“Talk to me. Why were you fighting?” 

“They were talking shit about the game.” She glanced at Evie, hoping she believed her. One look at her face told her that Evie was unimpressed. 

“Nope.” Evie said simply.

“What?”

“I know you, Mal. You wouldn’t let something as stupid as a Tourney game get to you. You wanna try and answer that again and not lie to me this time?” 

“Just drop it, okay?” she turned to walk into the locker room. 

“They said something about Carlos, or Jay, or me, right?” Evie called after her. “That’s the only way you would have reacted like that.” 

Mal sighed and turned to face her. Ben was still standing there, and he looked like he really didn’t want to be a part of this conversation. 

“I’m going to get my bag so we can leave.” 

“So it was about me.” Evie somehow figured out. Mal didn’t know how the other girl always knew everything before she even said it. When she wanted to be, Evie was a genius at reading other people. “Mal…”

“Yes, Evie. They said something about you. Are you happy now that you know? Can I go get my bag?” 

Evie shook her head. “What did they say?” 

“No, we’re not doing that. They’re assholes who don’t even deserve to breathe the same air as you, do you hear me?” she walked over to the blue haired girl. “What they said isn’t important. What matters is that they felt the need to say anything about you at all.” 

Evie stared at her for a moment before speaking. “You can’t start doing this.” 

“What?”

“Getting in fights!” Evie shouted. “We worked too fucking hard to get off the Isle for you to lose it over something some random boys said.” 

“No one gets to talk about you.” Mal said, feeling her anger flare up again. “I will never let someone talk down to you or talk about you in a bad way.”

“There are always going to be people who have comments about me.” Evie reminded her. “It’s not your job to beat them up until your knuckles start bleeding.”

“It is.” Mal corrected her. “You’re mine.” 

Evie sighed, shifting Ellie in her arms. “M.” 

“No. You are mine, and I’m fucking sick and tired of people thinking they can hurt you. I’m sick of having to stand back and just watch while you deal with it on your own.” 

Mal realized that her anger was kind of misplaced in this situation after she said the words out loud. All she could think about was the Evil Queen pressing a knife to Evie’s throat and not being able to help her. 

“Hey.” Evie moved forward, holding Ellie in her right arm and reaching out to touch Mal’s cheek with her left. “You do such a good job at protecting me. You always make me feel safe.” 

Mal shivered. “I didn’t protect you.” 

“You did, baby.” Evie rested their foreheads together. “There was nothing you could have done. No one could have changed the way things happened.” 

“I’m sorry.” 

“Shhh, it’s not your fault.” 

Mal sighed and accepted Evie’s comfort. She hated that she was talking about this right now, especially when Evie hadn’t acknowledged her own grief. But the words just came pouring out of her. “Evie…”

“I’m yours.” Evie whispered. “I’m yours just as much as you are mine. You are allowed to feel.” 

Mal just nodded. She wished that she had been able to step in on that night on the Isle. She wished that it had been her that stabbed the Evil Queen instead of Evie. She wished that Evie wasn’t in so much pain from the whole situation that she had to pretend she was okay to avoid breaking. 

“It’s time to forgive yourself.” Evie told her, her hand coming up to brush Mal’s hairs behind her ears. “You couldn’t have done things any differently.” 

“I wish I could have.” 

“Me too.” Evie agreed with a sad smile. “But you have to forgive yourself. I don’t blame you.” 

“You need to take your own advice.” 

Evie practically grimaced. “Much easier said than done.” 

“We’ll work on it.” 

“So are you guys good now?” 

Mal nearly smiled when she heard Ben’s voice. She turned around to face the future king, seeing that he was wringing his hands anxiously. His eyes darted back and forth between them. 

“Sorry you had to see all that.” Evie said. 

“No, no, it’s fine! I just wanted to make sure you guys are okay. I don’t really understand what you’re talking about, so…” 

“We’re okay.” Mal reassured him. “Thanks for stopping the fight, Ben.” 

“Of course. Well, if you don’t need anything else, I’m gonna go. Please stay out of trouble.” 

Once he left, both girls couldn’t help but smile. “He looked like he was about to have a heart attack.” Mal joked. 

“I think we scared him.” Evie told her. They stared at each other for a few seconds. “We are good, right?”

Mal nodded her head. It was going to be hard, but she knew she needed to follow Evie’s advice and forgive herself. Maybe if she could do that, it would help Evie come to terms with her own grief. 

“Yeah, baby.” Mal kissed Evie’s forehead. “We’re good.”


	37. Unintentional Reveals

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> You have no idea how much of a struggle this chapter was! It's starting to look like updates are going to be moved to every other weekend instead of the previous every weekend schedule. 
> 
> Thank you all so much for the kind comments on last chapter! Please let me know what you're thinking after this one. What did you like? What do you think will happen next? What is something you really want to see?

After the Tourney game on Saturday, Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos went back to the girls’ dorm. Luckily, they were just in time to stay on schedule with Ellie’s afternoon nap. Mal put her to sleep in her crib and by the time she joined Evie on their bed, her girlfriend was already asleep. Mal took a quick shower and then laid with her, finally getting to just hold her and try to make her feel better. Evie slept for a while, and Mal could tell she was feeling better after. She even cooked dinner and ate almost all of the food on her plate. 

When dinner was over, Mal sat down on the couch with Jay to play video games. Evie and Carlos were playing with Ellie. 

“Did you talk to her yet?” Carlos questioned. He had been watching his friend, waiting for any sign that she had told Mal how she was feeling. 

“Not yet.” Evie replied. 

“You said that you would this weekend.” 

“I can still do it tomorrow.” Evie reminded him. “Too much shit already happened today. Everyone is happy right now, and I’m not ruining that.” 

Carlos sighed. He knew Evie needed to talk to Mal about therapy and her feelings, but he didn’t want to argue. He reached out and grabbed Ellie’s foot instead. “Do you hear the way your mama is talking, Ellie?” 

Evie rolled her eyes. “She doesn’t know what it means.” 

“I’m starting a swear jar.” 

The rest of the night passed without issue. Evie gave Ellie a bath, then did her nightly feed and got her settled in bed. The four teenagers gathered on the couch together to watch a movie. Evie sat on Mal’s lap, enjoying just being in her presence. When the first movie ended, they all made a decision to watch another since they weren’t tired yet. Evie’s head was bothering her a little bit, but she figured it was just from stress. 

By the time Evie and Mal crawled into bed, it was 2am. Mal grabbed a bottle of water and her girlfriend’s anxiety medicine, watching as the blue haired girl swallowed the pills. Evie let Mal get comfortable, then scooted over to lay next to her. She cuddled into her chest, feeling the achiness in her body now that she was relaxed. 

“Goodnight, my Princess.” Mal kissed her forehead. “Sweet dreams.” 

“You too.” Evie pressed a kiss against her neck and then closed her eyes, hoping that tomorrow would be a good day. 

\-----

Mal was woken up abruptly on Sunday morning. She could tell that it was still early from the faint amount of light creeping in through the window. She instantly panicked, thinking that it was because Evie had a nightmare. She looked down and realized that she was alone in bed. 

Then, she heard coughing and what sounded like throwing up. Her heart sank into her stomach. She stood, wondering if she even wanted to see this. Maybe she should just pretend she was still sleeping. 

She knew she couldn’t avoid it. Mal went over to the bathroom and looked inside, seeing that Evie was kneeling in front of the toilet. Her left hand was holding back her hair, and her right was gripping onto the porcelain. Her head was practically in the toilet bowl. 

Mal didn’t know how to react. She could see that at least Evie wasn’t sticking her fingers down her throat, but she wasn’t sure that made it better. She must have gotten so anxious to the point that she threw up without having to force herself. 

Then, she heard a little whimper come from her girlfriend. She couldn’t stand the thought that Evie was hurting.

“E?” she said quietly. 

As soon as she turned around, Mal could tell that something was wrong. Evie was pale and shaky, she had tears running down her cheeks, and she was sniffling. 

“I’m sorry, M.” Evie blurted out. “I didn’t do it on purpose. I woke up and all of a sudden I had to throw up. I promise I didn’t make myself do it. I…” 

“Calm down, baby.” Mal interrupted her rambles. She could see just from Evie’s body language that she was hurting. “What’s going on?” 

“I don’t know.” Evie cried. “I was sleeping and then I woke up out of nowhere and I felt sick. I came in here and I threw up. It was an accident, Mal. You have to believe me.” 

“Hey.” Mal went over and sat down next to her. “I believe you. Take a deep breath, Princess.” 

Evie moved so that she could sit next to Mal with both of their backs leaning against the bathtub. Her hands were shaking and she was still crying. Mal reached out and grabbed one of Evie’s hands. The blue haired girl leaned over, resting her head on Mal’s shoulder, her forehead touching her neck. 

When their skin made contact, Mal knew instantly that something was wrong. She could feel how hot Evie was.

Mal pulled away, making Evie whine. She pressed her hand against Evie’s forehead. Her stomach flipped when she confirmed what she had already been thinking. 

“I think you’re sick, E.” 

Evie shook her head, wincing at the obvious discomfort. “No, I can’t be sick. They gave us vaccines, remember?” 

Mal grabbed Evie’s waist gently, lifting her so that she could sit on her lap. She leaned in and kissed Evie’s forehead, closing her eyes at the heat coming from her girlfriend’s skin. “You’re throwing up, and you definitely have a fever.” She gathered Evie’s hair in her hands and tied it into a bun with the hair tie on her wrist. “Does anything else hurt?” 

“My head is pounding and my throat burns.” Evie admitted. Her eyes fluttered shut and she tilted forward, her forehead resting on Mal’s chin.

“I’m sorry you’re not feeling well.” She whispered, not needing to speak any louder because of their close proximity. Mal wrapped both of her arms around her girlfriend, cuddling her closer. 

Suddenly, Evie pulled away. She scrambled off of Mal’s lap and barely made it to the toilet before she threw up. She coughed almost violently, her whole body tensing up as she emptied the contents of her stomach. 

“Shhh, you’re okay, Pretty Girl. I’ve got you.” Mal scooted behind her, rubbing Evie’s back comfortingly. When she was finished, Evie practically collapsed into her arms. “We have to lower your fever. I’m going to get a bath started.” 

“I don’t want to.” Evie complained. 

“I know, baby girl. I’m sorry, but we have to get rid of the fever so you can feel better.” Mal kissed her forehead and slid out from underneath her. She went over and turned on the faucet. 

On the Isle, this had been one of the few ways they had to reduce a fever. There were random herbs and potions they could try, but the easiest way was to put the sick person in a lukewarm bath. Considering most of the water on the Isle was lukewarm anyway, it made the process a little easier. 

Mal was careful not to make the water too cold. She bounced her attention back and forth between the filling tub and Evie, who was still sitting on the floor with her head against Mal’s legs. 

Once the water was high enough, Mal turned off the faucet. Then, she leaned down, carefully lifting Evie until she could hold the slightly taller girl. Evie buried her face in Mal’s neck. 

Mal took her over to the counter and set her down. She pulled her shirt over her head, then slid her underwear down her legs. Evie shivered when she picked her up again and carried her over to the bathtub. As soon as her foot touched the water, Evie flinched. 

“No, Mal.” 

“We have to lower your fever, baby. I’ll be right here. You’re okay.” She carefully guided her to stand in the water, then held her hands so she could help lower her into a sitting position.

Evie’s teeth chattered as she laid in the lukewarm water. She reached her left hand out and Mal grabbed it with zero hesitation, pressing a kiss to her overheated skin. She kneeled next to the tub and stroked Evie’s cheek. 

“Close your eyes and try to relax, okay?” 

Evie started to cough, her entire body lurching forward. Mal rubbed her back soothingly. Evie was wincing with every cough, and she was sure that it wasn’t helping any of her other symptoms. 

All of this was really freaking Mal out. On the Isle, people were rarely sick. They were exposed to so much filth and germs from a young age that all of the villain children usually had great immune systems. Thinking back on it, she could only remember each of her friends being sick maybe once or twice, and Mal herself had only been seriously sick once. If you were sick on the Isle, you only had two options- recover using baths, herbs, and potions, or die. 

Mal understood that the germs in Auradon were different and that they had been given vaccines. She wasn’t as smart as Evie or Carlos, but she knew that they had been there for two and a half months and it was pretty unlikely that one of the vaccines had made Evie sick, so there was no clear answer on how she had gotten sick. Mal’s heartbeat started to pick up as she realized that this could turn out badly. What if Evie was too sick? What if Ellie had the same illness?

She leaned over and kissed Evie’s forehead, hearing a tiny hum come from her girlfriend. She wouldn’t let anything bad happen to her. She didn’t care what she had to do, she would find a way to make Evie better. 

Mal heard a knock on the door and turned slightly so she could see. Carlos was standing in the doorway, squinting at the light coming from the bathroom. 

“What’s wrong?” 

“Evie is sick.” 

Carlos’s face paled immediately and he left the bathroom. Mal wasn’t surprised to see him return with Jay by his side a few moments later. 

“What do you mean she’s sick? Are you sure?” Jay questioned as he barged into the room. He came right over to the tub and knelt next to Mal. He reached out and touched Evie’s face. “Yeah, she’s definitely warm.” 

Carlos kneeled on Mal’s other side and felt Evie’s forehead for himself. He looked at the other two. “What do we do?” 

“We need to get her fever down.” Jay stated, looking a little fidgety. Mal could tell he was nervous, but she didn’t blame him. 

“At least it’s not a school day.” Carlos said. “We can keep her here and away from everyone. No one has to know.”

“I thought the vaccines they gave us are supposed to keep us from getting sick.” Jay said. 

Carlos nodded. “They are.” 

Mal sighed. “We can’t let anyone know she’s sick then.” 

The tallest of the group frowned. “Why not?”

“Think about it.” Carlos chimed in. “Have you seen anyone in Auradon get sick before?” Jay and Mal shook their heads. “We can’t tell.” 

“Mal.” Evie whimpered. She looked absolutely miserable, and Mal had honestly forgotten that her girlfriend was awake and probably doing her best to follow their conversation. 

“You’re okay, baby.” Mal stroked her hair away from her forehead. 

“They’re gonna send me back.” 

“No they’re not.” Mal swore. “I won’t let anyone get near you.” 

“Please, don’t let them take me away.” Evie reached her arms out towards Mal. “I wanna stay with you.” 

Mal figured that she had spent enough time in the bath, and she knew that she needed to keep Evie from getting worked up. She grabbed a towel and lifted Evie out of the tub, then wrapped her in the fluffy cloth. She held her bridal style and leaned down, resting their foreheads together. 

“No one is taking you from me.” 

“No doctors. I don’t wanna leave you again.” 

Mal assumed that Evie was talking about when she stayed in the health center with Ellie. She kissed her cheek. “You’re not leaving, E. Carlos, Jay, and I are going to take care of you. No one has to know.” 

Evie nuzzled closer to her, and Mal was happy that she seemed calmer for now. She carried her into the bedroom and carefully laid her on the bed. 

“Jay, grab some clothes for her. Underwear and a thin t-shirt.” Mal ordered. 

“I’m gonna see if I can get my hands on some garlic.” Carlos said before leaving the room. 

Mal went over and checked on Ellie, who was still asleep. She returned to Evie’s side just as Jay came out with clean clothes. Mal got Evie dressed, then ran the brush through her hair to get rid of any tangles.

“M.” Evie whimpered, reaching a hand out towards her. 

Mal climbed into bed next to Evie and pulled her close. “I’m here, babe. Just close your eyes and rest, okay? Carlos is going to make you something that will help lower your fever. You’re alright.”

Mal rested with Evie until Carlos came running back into the room. He was holding a small bowl with a clove of garlic, which he started to crush. “Jay, turn the hot water on. Let it get really warm and then get a cup of it.” Mal couldn’t help but think that she was lucky to have Carlos there. Carlos and Evie were definitely the best when it came to taking care of someone who was sick, and the two of them had nursed many Isle children back to health. 

It only took a few minutes before Carlos came over with the cup full of garlicky water. Mal winced, knowing that Evie was going to hate every minute of this. Her girlfriend wasn’t the biggest fan of garlic on a normal day, so it was going to be nearly impossible to get her to drink it while sick. 

“Evie.” Mal whispered, pressing kisses against her cheek. “Carlos has something for you, Pretty Girl. Open your eyes.” 

It took a little coaxing, but Evie finally opened her eyes. As soon as she smelled the liquid in the cup, she grimaced. “No…” 

“E, you need to drink.” Carlos urged. “We need to lower your fever as quickly as possible. The garlic is going to make you sweat.”

Evie didn’t look happy, but she took the cup from Carlos. She took a couple tiny drinks, much to the relief of the others. 

That relief was short lived, because seconds later, Evie leaned over and threw up all over the floor. She dropped the cup in the process and spilled it all over the bed. 

“I’m sorry.” Evie cried immediately. 

“Shhh, it’s okay.” Mal soothed. “Did you spill any of the water on yourself?” she checked her hands, hoping that the water wasn’t hot enough to burn Evie’s skin. She didn’t see any signs of her being burned. “Come on, let’s get you cleaned up.”

Mal helped Evie out of bed and took her back to the bathroom. Evie dropped to her knees in front of the toilet and threw up again. 

“I’ll clean up the floor.” Jay said when he came in a moment later. “Carlos is trying to remember what other herbs can be used.” 

“Thank you.” Mal almost offered to clean it up herself, but she didn’t want to leave Evie. They sat on the floor for a while, Evie periodically throwing up before she finally leaned her head against Mal’s chest and closed her eyes. 

Carlos came in and knelt on the floor next to Evie. He looked to Mal. “I need to ask her about one of the teas she used to make. I think it’ll help.” Mal nodded in permission. “Hey Eves, can you hear me? I need your help with something.” 

Evie moaned miserably, not opening her eyes. “Time to sleep?” 

“Almost, baby.” Mal kissed the top of her head. “Carlos wants to ask you something first.” 

“Do you remember when Squirmy Smee was really sick last summer?” he questioned. “I tried everything I could think of, but his fever wouldn’t break. You made him some kind of tea. What did you put in it?” 

Evie’s eyes were still closed, but her eyebrows were furrowed as she thought. “Mmmm…basil.” 

“What else?” 

Mal could feel Evie’s body leaning more heavily against her as she started to lose her battle with sleep. She sat up straight, pulling Evie with her, earning out an annoyed cry. “Evie, what else was in the tea? Basil and…” 

“Ginger and honey.” She answered, her eyes fluttering open. “I’m tired, Mal.” 

“You did so good, Princess.” Mal kissed her forehead, then looked to Carlos. “Is that all?”

“I’ll see what I can find.” He kissed Evie’s cheek and then left. 

Mal figured that the throwing up was finished for now, so she lifted Evie and carried her back into the bedroom. She could see that Jay was still working on cleaning the floor and hadn’t gotten to the sheets yet, so she carried Evie over to the bed the boys usually shared. She was pretty sure the mattresses were the same, but it felt weird being in a bed that didn’t smell like the strawberry shampoo Evie made or have the soft, fluffy blankets she sewed. 

Right after she helped Evie get comfortable laying on her chest, she heard Ellie start to cry. Mal held her breath, trying to see if it would wake Evie up; she didn’t budge. 

Mal slid out from under Evie and went to the bathroom to wash her hands. She changed her clothes, figuring that she could at least attempt to keep the germs away from the eight month old. She went over to the baby’s crib and lifted her up.

“Good morning, sweet girl.” She kissed her forehead. “Are you hungry?” Evie hadn’t started pumping yet, and Mal didn’t want to wake her up and ask her to feed Ellie (plus she didn’t know if Evie could even breastfeed while sick), so she knew they would have to rely on baby cereal. 

While Jay changed the sheets, Mal prepared Ellie’s breakfast. Right as it was finished, Carlos returned to the room with all the ingredients to make tea for Evie. 

Mal put Ellie in her high chair and she immediately start to whine. “Mama.” 

“I know, baby, you want Mama’s milk. I’m sorry, but you’re going to have to have cereal today.” It took a few minutes for Ellie to calm down, but finally she gave in and ate the baby cereal. 

Mal divided her attention between feeding Ellie and looking towards Evie, trying to watch her for any signs that she might throw up again. Jay came over and sat next to her. 

“You want me to feed Ellie?” 

“Wash your hands first. I don’t want her to get sick.” She smiled at him. “Thanks for cleaning up.” 

“No problem.” Jay went to wash his hands, then returned and started to feed Ellie. 

Mal crawled into bed next to Evie again. She ran her fingers up and down her back; she wanted her to rest, but she also wanted her to stay somewhat awake so that she could drink the tea Carlos was making. 

Carlos came back in a few minutes later with a mug already in his hands. He went over and sat on the bed next to Evie. “Can you wake her up?” 

Mal nodded. “Evie, baby, I need you to wake up.” She kissed her forehead. “You need to drink some tea.” 

Evie whined. “Mal…” 

“I’m right here.” Mal stroked her hair away from her face. “Sit up. I know you’re tired, and I promise that you can sleep after this. But you need to drink some tea.” 

Evie looked exhausted, but she reluctantly pulled herself into a sitting position. Mal maneuvered her so that Evie was sitting between her legs and the blue haired girl could lean back against her chest. 

“It’s basil, ginger, and honey, just like you said.” Carlos informed her as he handed her the cup. Mal could see that Evie’s hands were shaky, so she reached up to hold the cup for her. 

Evie took a small drink, and luckily, she kept it down this time. 

“Good job, Princess.” Mal kissed her cheek. “Keep drinking just like that, okay? You’re doing so good.” She looked at the boy. “Carlos, can you help Jay with Ellie please? I’ve got Evie.” 

“Of course.” 

“Thank you for the tea. You did good.” Mal praised.

Carlos smiled shyly. “Thanks Mal.” He went over to lift Ellie out of her high chair and help Jay get her dressed. 

“Just take it slow. Little sips.” Mal encouraged as she gently rubbed Evie’s stomach. Evie took another small drink, then winced. “What’s wrong?” 

“My throat and my stomach.” Evie whimpered. 

“I know, my love. I’m sorry.” Mal kissed her neck. “The tea will make you feel better.” 

With a lot of prodding, Mal was able to get Evie to drink about half the tea. When Evie started crying, she knew she had reached her limit. 

“Shhh, calm down. Deep breaths so you don’t get sick again, E.” Mal rocked her slightly as she tried to calm her down. Evie sighed tiredly and cuddled into Mal’s chest. “There you go. I’m so proud of you, baby girl. Let’s lay down.” 

“Ellie…” 

“She’s with the boys. She had breakfast and she’s alright. Just focus on you right now.” 

Mal helped Evie move positions so that they were now on their sides and facing each other with Evie’s face buried in Mal’s neck. She held her girlfriend, running her fingers through her hair to keep her calm and relaxed. As soon as Evie fell asleep, Mal pulled back a few inches and looked over her shoulder towards the boys. 

“How’s Ellie?” 

“She’s good.” Jay called back. “We’ve got her. Just stay with Evie.” 

Mal nodded and pulled Evie closer, feeling herself drift off. The last thing she could remember was hoping that Evie would feel better after their nap. 

\-----

Audrey had only known Evie for almost three months, but in that time, she liked to think that she had learned some things about the other girl. For example, she knew that it was unlike Evie to be late. The two of them had made plans on Friday during Fashion Design class to go to the mall on Sunday. It was now Sunday, but Evie was twenty minutes late to their designated meeting spot. 

Audrey walked to the dorm room that Evie and Mal shared. She figured that Evie had gotten busy with Ellie, and she could at least see if she could help with anything. She knocked on the door. 

She could hear shuffling around, but no one moved to answer the door. Audrey frowned and knocked again, wondering if maybe they hadn’t heard her. Then, she felt guilty. What if Ellie was sleeping and she woke her up? 

The door opened a little crack and she saw a flash of dark hair. A second later, it opened a little wider and she saw Jay. 

“What do you want, Audrey?” he questioned, crossing his arms over his chest. 

She raised an eyebrow. “Good morning to you too, Jay.” 

He stared at her with zero amusement displayed on his features. “Do you need something?” 

“I’m supposed to go shopping with Evie today. We’re going to get some materials so she can make a new coat for me, and we’re going to pick up what we need to make Ellie more clothes.”

“Who is at the door?” Audrey heard Mal practically growl from inside. 

“Evie can’t go.” Jay informed her. “See you at school tomorrow.” 

“Why can’t she come?” Audrey interrupted. Everyone else might be afraid of the Isle kids, but she wasn’t. After spending more time around them, she had realized they weren’t nearly as scary as she expected (though they could be a little intimidating). 

The door opened wider and then Audrey’s eyes landed on Mal. The shorter girl’s hair was messy and she was still dressed in pajamas, despite the fact that it was after noon. 

“You look terrible.” She blurted out without thinking. 

“Thanks.” Mal said with a roll of her eyes. “Did you need something?” 

“Evie and I have plans to go shopping.” 

“She’s busy with Ellie.”

“Well can I talk to her? If she can’t go, then she can at least talk me through what to buy so I can go pick up the material on my own.” 

Audrey watched as Mal looked over her shoulder, then bit her lip. It suddenly struck her that the purple haired girl seemed to be nervous about something. She couldn’t help but look past her and into the room. Her eyes immediately landed on Evie. 

“Is she alright?” she demanded. Evie was sprawled out on the bed and she looked like she was dead from how still she was. 

Mal and Jay started to sputter excuses, but Audrey had had enough of them trying to distract her. She pushed past them and into the room (she knew that on a normal day, she wouldn’t have been able to get away with that, but they both seemed so surprised she had even attempted to push them away that they didn’t think to react). 

Audrey saw that Carlos was sitting on the floor with Ellie in his arms. She offered him a small wave, then went over to stand next to Evie. Now that she was close up, Audrey was even more worried. Evie looked pale, besides her flushed cheeks, and she was sweating. Even her breathing didn’t sound right. 

“What’s wrong with her?” Audrey leaned her hand out towards Evie’s forehead, then pulled it away quickly after she felt the heat. “Jesus, Mal. She’s burning up.” 

“I know.” Mal came over and sat next to Evie. “We’re trying to get her fever down.” 

“Is she sick?”

“Yes, and you’re going to keep your fucking mouth shut.” Mal threatened, her eyes glowing green. 

Audrey knew there was a time where seeing Mal react like that would have sent her running. But she could tell that right now, she was just lashing out because she was scared. 

“Why don’t you take her to the health center?” 

“People in Auradon don’t get sick.” Carlos chimed in from across the room. “They’ll make her stay in the health center.” 

“Or they’ll send her back to the Isle.” Jay added. 

“Okay, no.” Audrey said with a shake of her head. “It’s not unusual to get sick. I was sick a couple weeks ago and had to miss class. Once you get some medicine, you start to feel better.” 

“But they gave us vaccines.” Mal explained. “Dr. Williams told us that it would keep us from getting sick. Obviously it didn’t work, so they’re not going to be happy.” 

“Vaccines are geared towards certain illnesses. They don’t protect against everything.” Audrey informed them. “Besides that, Ben wouldn’t let anyone send Evie away because she is sick. Illness really does happen all the time.” 

Audrey could see that Mal still looked a little weary. She glanced over at the boys. Carlos was carrying Ellie, who looked half asleep, over to her crib. Jay was at the bottom of the bed and still looked skeptical. 

“It’s going to be okay.” Audrey tried to reassure. She had never really been good at the whole comforting thing, but she would try her best. “All Evie needs is some medicine and a couple days of rest. It’s important for the doctors to know she is sick right away because the quicker you find out something is wrong, the quicker they can treat it. How long has Evie been sick?”

“Since this morning.” Mal answered. 

“What are her symptoms?”

“She has a fever, she’s throwing up, her throat hurts, and she has a headache.” 

“That’s exactly how I felt a few weeks ago.” Audrey said. “I went to the health center and they gave me some medicine. I slept a lot and then I felt better after a few days. If we take Evie to the health center, I bet it will be the same for her.” 

Mal nodded her head and looked at the boys. “What do you guys think?”

“She has no reason to lie.” Carlos stated. Jay sighed, then nodded his head in agreement. 

“Let me text Ben and he can send a limo over.” Audrey pulled out her phone and typed the message. 

“Don’t tell anyone else.” Mal told her. 

“I promise I won’t.” 

Audrey sat at the end of the bed while they waited for the limo. Mal was up by Evie’s head, stroking the sweaty strands of hair away from Evie’s face. It made Audrey feel sick to see Evie in such obvious pain, so she couldn’t even imagine how Mal was feeling right now. 

“I’m going to change.” Mal said, then disappeared into the closet. She came back a few minutes later in a new outfit and looking more presentable. She was holding a pair of leggings, socks, and a sweatshirt in her hands. Audrey watched as she carefully put the clothing on Evie (who before that was dressed in only a t-shirt and underwear, apparently).

“The limo is here.” Audrey announced after her phone vibrated. Mal, Jay, and Carlos all stood at the same time. 

Mal looked past her towards Jay and Carlos. “You guys should stay. I don’t want to take Ellie to the health center if we don’t have to.” 

Audrey was surprised that the boys didn’t argue. They just nodded their heads and Carlos sat back down. Jay came over to the bed. 

“I can carry her down.” He offered. Mal nodded, so he carefully scooped Evie up, keeping the blanket wrapped around her. Mal rushed forward to grab the ends of it and tuck them around her girlfriend. Audrey couldn’t help but smile at how cute they were. 

Mal led the way, followed by Jay with Evie, and then Audrey. The princess was surprised when the VKs immediately went towards the stairs, and she huffed the whole way down; maybe she needed to start exercising more often because Mal and Jay didn’t even look phased. 

Mal opened the door to the limo and climbed in. Jay carefully passed Evie to her, and Mal cradled the blue haired girl against her. Jay stepped back so Audrey could get in, then leaned his head in. 

“Text us as soon as you know anything.” 

“I will. Keep Ellie in the room. If you need anything for her, call me. Don’t text; I want to know right away.” 

“Got it.” Jay shut the door. 

When they were about halfway there, Evie started to stir. Audrey waited to see how she would react to the change in location. 

“M?” Evie called out. 

“I’m here.” Mal adjusted Evie’s position so that she was resting more comfortably on her lap, her head on her shoulder. “You’re okay.” 

Evie let out a little whine. “I don’t feel good.” 

“I know, baby.” Mal kissed her forehead. “We’re going to the health center and…” 

Evie shot into a sitting position. Audrey was surprised that Evie was able to move so fast when she was obviously feeling so horrible. “I don’t want to.” 

“We’re on our way now. Audrey is with us, and she’s going to help us figure out what to do.” Mal explained. “There’s nothing to be scared of.”

“I don’t want to stay.” Evie’s eyes were filling quickly with tears. “Please, Mal.” 

“I’m going to be with you the whole time. Jay and Carlos are watching Ellie for us, so the only thing I’m focused on is you.” Audrey nearly swooned when Mal started to stroke Evie’s hair and rock her gently. “Just breathe, baby girl. Everything is going to be okay.” 

Evie melted against Mal, her head going back to the other girl’s shoulder. They were quiet until the limo pulled up in front of the health center. Audrey got out first and held the door for Mal, who lifted Evie up. 

“Wrap your legs around me.” She commanded. Evie wrapped her legs around her waist and then Mal carried her towards the health center. 

When they walked inside, two female doctors were standing in the lobby. They both looked to be in their 30s, and one had dark hair while the other was a redhead. They both rushed forward as soon as they saw the three girls. Audrey intended on stepping up and doing the talking so Mal could focus on Evie, but she was surprised when the doctor addressed the VK instead of her. 

“What’s going on, Mal?” the dark haired woman questioned. As she got closer, Audrey saw that her white jacket had ‘Dr. Nina Bren’ written on it. “Is Evie alright?” 

“She’s sick.” Mal reluctantly admitted. “She has a fever.”

The red haired woman (apparently named Dr. Annie Rhodes) came forward. “I’m going to have you carry her into the room.” 

“You did good, Mal.” Dr. Bren spoke again. “Are you doing alright?” 

“I just want Evie to get better.” 

“She will. Dr. Rhodes will do everything she can. Would you like me to call Fairy Godmother?” 

Mal looked like she was hesitating. Audrey leaned towards her. “I think that would be a good idea.” 

Mal turned towards her as if she had forgotten she was there, then looked back at Dr. Bren. “Yeah, you can call her.” 

Dr. Rhodes led them into a room and Mal carried Evie over to the bed. She tried to lay her down, but the blue haired girl just whimpered and grabbed Mal tighter. Audrey couldn’t help but smile; the two girls were so adorable together. It wasn’t uncommon to see them touching, but it was obvious that Evie was really tired, and therefore more emotional and clingy than usual. It was cute to see how Mal reacted to her girlfriend being in pain. The typically guarded and stoic teenager was so attentive and responsive towards Evie’s needs. 

“Come on, E.” Mal urged as she rubbed her back. “Dr. Rhodes is going to check you over and see what’s going on. You have to sit on the bed.” She tried to put her down again, but Evie started to cry. “Okay, you’re alright. Calm down, baby.” Mal turned and sat on the bed, keeping Evie on her lap. 

Audrey smiled at Mal sympathetically. “Do you want me to go? I can stay or I can wait for you guys, whatever you want.” 

The purple haired girl seemed to think it over, then nodded. “You can stay.” She looked to the doctor as Audrey sat in the chair next to the bed. “Can you check her if she sits on my lap?” 

“I’ll do my best.” Dr. Rhodes agreed. “Before we start, I need to ask. Has Evie been taking her anxiety medication?” 

“Yes, she takes two pills every night just like the bottle says.” 

Audrey was surprised to hear that. She could tell Evie had some obvious issues from growing up on the Isle, but she had never explicitly stated what the problems were. Evie having anxiety made a whole lot of sense. 

“And her eating?” 

Mal pushed all the hair out of Evie’s face, then kissed her forehead. From where Audrey was sitting, she could see that Evie’s eyes were closed and she looked like she had fallen back asleep. “She’s doing okay. She’s getting a lot better about talking to me when she feels like eating is too hard so that we can figure out a compromise. But she started breastfeeding Ellie again, so she’s been trying really hard to keep her calories up so her body will produce enough milk.” 

That was news to Audrey. She had no clue that Evie was breastfeeding. She wondered why Dr. Rhodes was so concerned about Evie’s eating habits. 

The door opened and Dr. Bren came into the room. “Fairy Godmother is on her way.” She announced. “Everything okay so far?” 

“Yes.” Dr. Rhodes answered, then turned to Mal. “Can you walk me through what happened?” 

“I woke up this morning and I heard Evie throwing up. I went into the bathroom and she told me that it wasn’t on purpose.” Audrey frowned; why did Mal include that detail? Obviously it wouldn’t have been on purpose. “I could tell just by looking at her that something was wrong. She was really warm, so I got her into a lukewarm bath. She kept saying her throat, stomach, and head were hurting her. Carlos made some herbal tea to try and reduce her fever, and she slept for a while. I don’t think her fever has gone down at all.” Mal’s eyes were darting back and forth between both women. “Is she going to be okay?” 

“We’re going to take care of Evie, Mal.” Dr. Rhodes reassured her. She grabbed a thermometer. “This goes under her tongue to tell us her temperature. Do you want to do it?” 

Mal took the thermometer. She leaned back so she could look at her girlfriend. Audrey watched as she stroked her thumb over Evie’s lips, and when the blue haired girl opened her mouth, Mal stuck the thermometer under tongue. 

“Stay still, baby.” She whispered. When it beeped, Mal pulled it out and glanced at the number in alarm, then handed it to Dr. Rhodes. 

“102.4. She definitely has a fever.” 

Audrey could see that Mal was starting to get more nervous. “When will Fairy Godmother be here?” 

“She was leaving her office when we got off the phone.” Dr. Bren told her. “Now forgive me for repeating this if Dr. Rhodes asked, but how has Evie been leading up to this?” 

“She’s been okay.” Mal answered. “She’s been taking her medicine and eating. This all came out of nowhere.” 

“I was wondering because I know she had a really difficult time in therapy this week.” 

Mal frowned. “What?” 

Audrey started to connect the dots. Obviously Dr. Rhodes was the pediatrician, but she had been trying to figure out who Dr. Bren was and why she seemed to talk to Mal as if she knew her. She had heard Ben talking about how the VKs went to therapy, so she was guessing that Dr. Bren was their therapist. 

Dr. Bren looked to Mal in surprise. “She didn’t tell you?” 

“No, I…” 

They were interrupted when Evie suddenly started coughing. Audrey watched as Mal completely dropped the conversation she was having and turned her attention back to Evie. She felt exhausted for both Evie and Mal and she knew that this would be a long day. 

\-----

“I need that garbage can.” Mal said urgently as Evie started to cough. She recognized the look on her girlfriend’s face and she could tell she was going to throw up any second. Audrey handed the garbage can to her, and a second later, Evie threw up into it. “It’s alright, Pretty Girl.” Mal soothed as she rubbed Evie’s back. 

Dr. Bren grabbed a cup of water and brought it over to Evie. She held it out, and Mal watched as the blue haired girl reached for it. As soon as she saw who was holding it, Evie pulled her hand away and buried her face in Mal’s neck. 

Mal frowned, not understanding what was happening. First Dr. Bren says that Evie had a rough therapy appointment, and now Evie was refusing to even look at the therapist? Mal didn’t ask yet because she didn’t want to upset Evie. She took the cup from Dr. Bren and gently grabbed Evie’s chin, forcing her to look up. “Take a drink. It’ll help your throat.” She held the cup to Evie’s lips and luckily, she took a drink. She didn’t break eye contact with Mal the whole time and if she didn’t already suspect something was wrong, she would definitely know now. 

“Evie, we’re going to figure out what’s going on.” Dr. Bren told her. When she spoke, Evie frowned and cuddled closer to Mal. 

“What’s wrong?” Mal asked. She tightened her arms around her, trying to communicate that she was there and wouldn’t let anything happen to her.

“I wanna go back to the room.” Evie whimpered. 

“We need to figure out what’s going on first.” 

Evie’s eyes drifted around the room, looking at each person standing there, then back to Mal again. Mal leaned in, resting their foreheads together. 

“What’s going on?” she whispered. 

“I don’t want her here.” 

Mal wasn’t sure who she meant. Audrey, Dr. Rhodes, or Dr. Bren? “Who, baby?”

Evie looked beyond anxious as she bit her lip and stared down at her lap. “Dr. Bren.” She said so quietly that Mal almost didn’t hear her. 

Her protective instincts went into overload immediately. She couldn’t say no to Evie on a normal day, so there was no way she could deny her anything when she was looking up at her with flushed cheeks, watery puppy dog eyes, and pouted lips. She put her hand on the back of Evie’s head, guiding her to lay her head on her shoulder. Then, she looked at the others. 

“Evie is overwhelmed.” Mal stated as she looked at the therapist. “Can you come back later?” 

Dr. Bren sighed, but nodded. “I’ll stop in and see you before you leave.” She turned and exited the room. 

“There you go, Princess.” Mal kissed her cheek. “What else do you need?” 

“Just keep holding me.”

Luckily, Dr. Rhodes worked quickly and was able to make Evie sitting on Mal’s lap work. Mal knew that they were a pretty touchy couple, but Evie had never been this clingy before. The fact that she was willing to show a weakness and refused to move away from Mal really proved how bad she was feeling, and it made Mal even more worried than she already was. 

She glanced over at Audrey, wondering what the other girl was thinking about all of this. She didn’t like that she had overheard her talking about Evie’s eating disorder and medication, but she knew that they could trust her. Mal knew that it bothered Evie that Audrey thought she had cheated on her to have Ellie, so maybe this was the first step in starting to tell her a little bit more of the truth. 

Mal kept looking to the clock. She wanted Fairy Godmother to get there, or even Ben. She didn’t know if Audrey had told the prince what was going on, but she wanted someone there that would be on their side. She needed someone who would defend Evie in case it was suggested that she was locked up in the health center again or sent back to the Isle.

“Alright, here’s what we’re going to do.” Dr. Rhodes announced, catching Mal’s attention immediately. Evie had fallen asleep, so it was up to Mal to listen to what would happen next. “I want Evie to stay here for a couple hours so I can keep an eye on her. She’s showing signs of being dehydrated, so I want to set up an IV so that she can have some extra fluids. Typically, I would just tell a patient to drink water or juice, but with Evie’s food issues and the fact that she’s throwing up, I think it’s best to just do an IV.” 

“What is an IV?” 

“I’ll insert a little tube into her arm and it will be connected to a bag of fluids.” Dr. Rhodes explained. “It’s very common, and people get IVs all the time if they aren’t feeling well. It can be used to give medicine too.” 

“Is it going to hurt her?”

“It’ll feel like a pinch for a couple seconds, and then the pain should go away.” Dr. Rhodes informed her. “The medicine is going to make her tired, but that’s a good thing. How has her sleeping been lately?”

Mal sighed. “Not good. She’s been up a lot now that we’re adjusting to taking care of Gabriella.” 

“Sleep will be the best way for her to recover. I want you to keep an eye on Evie’s eating over the next couple days. With her being sick, I wouldn’t expect her to eat three calorie heavy meals a day, but she should be eating something, especially since she’s breastfeeding. Don’t police her about it, but just try to observe how much she’s eating.” 

“Got it.” Mal said with a nod. 

“While she’s sleeping, I’m going to have you lay her down on the bed. I’m going to get the supplies I need for her IV. I’ll be back in a few minutes.” Dr. Rhodes exited the room. 

Mal stood up, knowing this would be difficult. Evie’s arms were around her neck and her legs were around her waist. Mal carried her over so she could stand next to the top of the bed. She sat her down first, then carefully unwrapped her arms from her neck. Evie started to frown, so Mal pressed a kiss against her forehead to make her smooth out her features. Then, she unhooked her thighs so that she could lay her down on the bed. 

“Oh baby.” Mal whispered as she looked at Evie. She had two big wet marks on her shirt, and Mal knew right away that it was her breastmilk leaking. She had been feeding Ellie in the morning, afternoon, and at night. She fed her last night, but hadn’t fed her since and it was now afternoon, meaning she had nearly missed two feeds. 

“What’s wrong?” Audrey asked, her voice quiet. 

“She’s gone too long without feeding Ellie, so her milk is leaking.” Mal explained.

“Does it hurt her if they’re leaking like that?” 

“Yes.” Mal admitted. Evie hadn’t mentioned it, and Mal didn’t even think about it. She knew that more pain was the last thing Evie needed. “Audrey, I need you to keep everything to yourself that you’ve overheard today.” She looked over at the brunette. “You couldn’t even begin to understand what kinds of issues we all have from living on the Isle. Our childhoods were terrible, and there are a lot of things we’re still working through.” 

Audrey nodded. “I won’t say anything.” 

“We’re trusting you.” Mal hated to say it, but it was true. They had to put some trust in Audrey, just like they did with Fairy Godmother and Ben and even Dr. Bren. “Don’t break that trust.” 

“I swear that I won’t.” she glanced at Evie. “Can I ask a question?” 

“Doesn’t mean I’ll answer.” 

“Does Evie have an eating disorder?” 

Mal was grateful that Evie was asleep because such a direct question would have definitely sent her over the edge. “Yes.”

“Is that why you’re always whispering to her during meal times?” Mal just silently nodded. She didn’t know if the Auradon kids were really observant, or if she was just extremely obvious, but she needed to get that under control. “Why does she take medicine?” 

“For anxiety. If she gets too nervous, then it triggers the eating disorder.” 

“So, you don’t have to answer this if you don’t want to, but I’ve been wondering. Evie told me that you have been together since you were 12, and that she’s only ever been with you. But now she said that Jay is Ellie’s dad. How is that possible?” 

Mal sighed. She hated that this was coming up, but she knew that it was something that had been weighing heavily on Evie and that her girlfriend would be happy that the story was straightened out. “I can’t tell you much about it. But Evie didn’t cheat on me to have Ellie, and Jay is not her father. It’s a fucked up situation.” 

Audrey nodded. “I’m sorry for asking questions, but I just wanted to know. I haven’t known you guys that long, but I consider you my friends. I want to know the best way to help you.” 

“You’ve been doing a good job.” Mal said. “Sometimes, Evie just needs a break from everything. When you take her shopping, she’s always so relaxed and happy when she gets back home. You’ve been so helpful with buying things for Ellie too, and we really do appreciate it.” 

“You can always call me if you need anything.” Audrey told her, and Mal could tell she felt a little uncomfortable from the way she stared down at her lap. “I know we didn’t start out well, but…”

“That’s the past.” Mal interrupted. “You’ve proven yourself.” 

Audrey looked up at her with a smile. “I won’t let you down.” 

The door opened and Mal expected to see Dr. Rhodes, but she was surprised to instead see Fairy Godmother. She hated to admit it, but she was relieved at the sight of the headmistress. She was glad that they now had someone in their corner who had enough power to keep Evie safe. 

“Mal, what’s going on?” FG looked worried as she rushed to the side of the bed. 

“Evie is sick. Her fever is 102.4.” 

“Poor thing. I can tell just from looking at her that she’s not feeling well.” FG turned towards Audrey. “Ben asked me to send you to his office when I got here. As long as it’s okay with Mal, I think you should update him on the situation.” 

Audrey looked at her first, as if she was asking permission. Mal nodded her head; it’s not like there was really anything Audrey found out that Ben didn’t already know. 

“Text if you need something.” Audrey told her. She held Evie’s hand for a second, then she was out of the room. Now, it was just Mal, Evie, and Fairy Godmother. Luckily, Mal knew exactly how she was going to spend this time. 

\-----

When Fairy Godmother got the phone call from Dr. Bren that Evie was sick, she had gotten to the health center as quickly as she could. This was the first time one of the VKs had dealt with an illness in Auradon, and she could guess from what she knew about them that they wouldn’t be handling it well, especially given the fact that it was Evie who was sick. Mal, Jay, and Carlos were fiercely protective of her and FG wanted to get there as soon as she could to keep them from doing anything drastic. 

“What happened in Evie’s therapy session this week?” Mal demanded, catching her completely off guard. 

Fairy Godmother sat down in the seat that Audrey had been in. “What do you mean, dear?” 

“Dr. Bren mentioned earlier that Evie had a hard time in therapy, and when she came in here, Evie wouldn’t even look at her. You know that Evie is the most polite one out of all of us, but she asked me to make Dr. Bren leave. I want to know what happened.” 

“Have you tried talking to Evie about it?” she really didn’t want to be the bearer of bad news. Though Dr. Bren didn’t have bad intentions about what she said during therapy, FG would be stupid to believe that Mal would see it that way. 

“She’s been pretty much passed out since we got here.”

“What did Dr. Rhodes say?” 

“Tell me what I want to know first.” 

Fairy Godmother sighed. “Mal, we need to focus on helping Evie get better first.” 

“Exactly. It’s not exactly a secret that Evie has been a mess since we came back from the Isle. If you tell me about therapy, then I can talk to her about it.” 

“Before we talk about anything else, I want to know how Evie is doing.” 

Mal groaned, but must have realized she wasn’t budging. “Her fever is 102.4. She’s been throwing up and has a sore throat and headache. Dr. Rhodes wants to keep her here for a few hours and do an IV because she’s dehydrated.”

FG reached out and touched Evie’s arm. She didn’t even flinch, and she could feel the heat pouring off of her. 

“Fairy Godmother?”

She was surprised by the amount of emotion in Mal’s voice. “Yes, Mal?” 

“How often do people in Auradon die from being sick?” 

She made eye contact with the teenager. Mal put up such a front about being a leader and having to be in charge that sometimes, FG forgot that she was still just a child. She smiled at her reassuringly. “It’s very uncommon.” 

“The Isle is disgusting.” Mal said. “We’re exposed to so many different germs. Most of the VKs have good immune systems.” She stared at the ground. “Evie’s never been sick like this before.” 

“Listen to me, Mal. Evie is going to be okay.” She waited until Mal looked up and met her eyes. “Having a fever isn’t always a life or death situation. You’ve been in Auradon for almost three months now, and you’re being exposed to new things every day. Evie probably just has a virus and once she takes medicine and rests for a couple days, she’ll be okay.” Mal nodded in understanding. 

FG turned her attention back to Evie. It was unsettling to see how out of it she looked. The girl was flushed and sweaty, and she could hear the congestion in her chest every time she breathed. She noticed that her shirt was wet and felt her stomach clench at the sight. 

“She didn’t feed Gabriella today?” 

Mal shook her head. “Evie fell back asleep and then Ellie woke up, and I didn’t want to wake Evie. Is it safe for her to still breastfeed?”

“We’ll have to ask Dr. Rhodes. Why don’t we try and get Evie cleaned up before she wakes up? I’m sure there are extra shirts lying around somewhere.” 

“No.” Mal refused. “I’m not taking her shirt off while she’s sleeping.” 

FG could feel that they were getting close to a boundary line, but she had to ask anyway. “Why not?” The more she got to know Evie, the more she was convinced that she had been sexually assaulted before. But she didn’t want to say it out loud or make that assumption. 

Mal shook her head. “I know you’re not stupid. You know exactly why.” She sighed. “I told you what you wanted to know. Can you tell me about therapy now?” 

Fairy Godmother didn’t want to set Mal off, but she knew that it would probably be better to have this conversation while Evie was still sleeping. She finally gave in. 

“On Wednesday in Goodness class, do you remember how Ben and I asked you all about getting a nanny for Ellie?” Mal nodded. “Evie made a comment about how if Ben knew the parents on the Isle, he would understand why she couldn’t trust anyone with Ellie. I asked her about it in therapy, and Evie told Dr. Bren and I that parents on the Isle only care about using their children. We asked how she was useful to her mother.” Fairy Godmother paused for a moment. She could see Mal’s eyes close as she took a deep breath. 

“Keep going.” She said through clenched teeth. 

“Evie told us that we already have an idea of what her life is like in our heads and that we needed to say it because she doesn’t want our pity.” FG braced herself for the next part. “Then, we told her that we’re not digging into her past because we pity her, but because people who were abused as children are more likely to abuse their own children.” 

The sharp intake of breath was so loud in the otherwise silent room. When Fairy Godmother looked at Mal, she saw that her eyes were glowing. 

“Are you fucking kidding me?” 

“You know that language is…” 

“I don’t give a fuck.” Mal said in a whisper-yell. “You actually had the audacity to accuse Evie of abusing her child?” 

“That wasn’t the intention at all. We…”

“We?” Mal interrupted. “Or Dr. Bren?” 

Fairy Godmother sighed. “Dr. Bren asked, but she didn’t mean it in a harmful way. I have seen how you all interact with Ellie, and I know how much Evie loves her. If there’s anyone I have faith in that they would never hurt their child, it’s Evie.” 

“Do you realize that Evie takes every single comment straight to heart? You already know her view on herself is fucked up, but she’s especially sensitive about her ability to be a good mom.” Mal stated. “The entire time Evie was pregnant, she was devastated. She didn’t want to be a mother. She cried every single day about how she wasn’t ready to have a baby and how she didn’t think she could raise a child. Do you know why she was so scared?” FG was silent, knowing it was best to just let Mal speak. “Because she couldn’t stand the idea that she would be like her mother. Accusing her of being at a higher risk for abusing Ellie was like a slap in the face. It took so long for Evie to believe she could be a good mother. I held her every single night and whispered to her that she was going to love this baby and that she was going to be so much better than everyone we know, and you know what? I was right. Evie is the best fucking mother I have ever seen. She loves Ellie so selflessly and she would do anything for that little girl.” 

Fairy Godmother was surprised to see Mal’s eyes fill with tears. “Mal…” 

“We trusted you.” She practically whispered. “I know Dr. Bren can be a little too harsh sometimes, but I felt better about her being around Evie because I knew you were there. How could you let her talk to her like that? Evie has confided in you. Does that mean anything to you?” 

“Of course it does.” FG said. “Mal, I don’t know what to say here. I understand that Evie loves Ellie, and I would never accuse her of hurting her. Dr. Bren knows the same thing. But Evie is so shut down right now and it’s impossible to get through to her. I can see how much she’s struggling, and she’s been struggling ever since you all returned from the Isle. I hate that she’s hurting and that Dr. Bren’s comment affected her so deeply, even if that wasn’t the intention, but I’m glad that at least she broke. She actually got angry and it was the first time I’ve seen her truly feel something since she came back.” 

At that, Mal visibly softened. She reached out and stroked her fingertips across Evie’s cheek. 

“Talk to me.” FG urged. “What’s been going on with her? How can I help?” 

A tear slid down Mal’s cheek and she quickly wiped it away. “I don’t know. She won’t talk to me.” She sat back down and held Evie’s hand, bringing it up to her lips. “Normally, she’ll tell me how she’s feeling but she hasn’t opened up at all. I don’t know what to do.” 

“You’ve been different too.” Fairy Godmother said quietly. “I just want to know what happened so I can try to help.” 

“You know what happened. Evie killed her mother. She had no choice.” 

“But what happened to _you_?” She could see that Mal was caught off guard by the question. “How did _you_ feel on the Isle?” 

“Being on the Isle sucks. It’s filthy and dark and depressing and it was a huge reminder that while we’re living a nice frilly life over here, there are kids who are going through the same shit that we used to.” 

FG didn’t bother to correct her for cursing this time. “Walk me through what happened from your perspective.” 

“We rode over to the Isle in a limo. As soon as we got there, it was like we had never left. The same feelings and fears came back and I could tell that Evie, Jay, and Carlos felt it too.” 

“Ben said that Evie had a panic attack.” 

“She did.” Mal agreed. “I told her that she needed to get it together because we didn’t have time for anything to go wrong. Then we went towards Uma and Harry’s.” she avoided eye contact. 

FG could tell that there was something else there. “Is that all?” 

Mal looked up at her with a frown. “Yes.” 

“If something else happened, you can tell me. I know you’re upset about Evie’s therapy appointment, but you can trust me, Mal. I truly am here to help the four of you, and Ellie. If you open up, then it’s going to help Evie open up.” 

That last sentence seemed to be the one that pushed her. If she hadn’t of been looking to where the girls’ hands were joined, she wouldn’t have even noticed that Mal’s hands were shaking. 

“I don’t want to go back to the Isle.” Mal whispered. 

“You won’t.” Fairy Godmother promised. “No matter what it is, we’ll deal with it. We are not ever sending you back there.” 

“Or Evie?”

“Or Evie. Or the boys, or Ellie. You’re all here to stay.” 

Mal bit down on her lip. “I killed someone.” 

Fairy Godmother was confused. Was Mal the one who had killed the Evil Queen? She couldn’t see Mal allowing Evie to step in and take the blame for her. “Tell me what happened.” 

“When Evie had the panic attack, the boys kept walking and I pulled her aside to try and calm her down. This kid we know, Tristan, came over to us. He started making threats and talking about telling our mothers that we were back. He grabbed Evie and I…I killed him. I had to get her away from him. If he had told our mothers that we were there, we would be dead right now.” 

Fairy Godmother’s heart ached. She knew that Mal was hardened and had no problem doing things that needed to be done, but it was obvious that this was weighing heavily on the girl’s conscience. “How do you think the Evil Queen found out you were on the Isle?” 

“Tristan was part of a rival gang. I think one of the other members of his crew watched the whole thing go down and then they told her that Evie was back.” Mal sighed. “I had to protect Evie, and then we were scared. We didn’t want to tell Ben because we didn’t know if he would leave me there. Evie was scared that she would have to give Ellie away and then be alone, and I couldn’t leave her. I know I was wrong for killing him, but I had to be with Evie.” 

Fairy Godmother walked over to the other side of the bed where Mal was clearly spiraling. She leaned down and hugged her, feeling the purple haired girl tense up at first. After a few seconds, she relaxed and even brought one hand up to touch FG’s back. She was surprised; she had never initiated a hug with any of the VKs before and she had kind of done it without thinking. She was glad it was going over well. 

“You did what you needed to do to protect yourself and your family.” She reassured her. “I’ll talk to Ben about this. I think this is something that we can keep just between us. Who all knows?” 

“Evie, Jay, and Carlos.” 

“Don’t mention it to anyone else, okay? It’s going to be alright.” FG pulled away from Mal. She watched as the girl wiped away a tear from her cheek and her eyes focused on her bruised up knuckles. “Mal, what happened to your hand?” 

Mal quickly put her hand on her lap. “Just a scrape from Tourney.” 

“Let me see it.” Mal sighed, but held her hand up. It was pretty obvious that she had busted her hand up from punching someone. “Who did you get in a fight with?” 

“It’s not a big deal.” 

“Mal…”

“I hit a kid from the other Tourney team we played yesterday.” 

Fairy Godmother shook her head. “You shouldn’t be fighting.” The irony wasn’t lost on her that she had basically just told Mal it was okay that she killed someone, but was scolding her for a fight. “Why did it start?”

“He was being an asshole, so I punched him. End of story.” 

FG gave her a stern look. “No. You have done an exceptional job staying out of trouble since you came to Auradon. What would have pushed you far enough that you would lash out?” as soon as she said the words, it hit her. “Did he say something about Evie?” 

The way Mal rolled her eyes and looked anywhere but at her gave her away. “Can we move on? The kid’s fine.” 

FG figured that Mal didn’t really need a lecture right now. She was going through enough, plus dealing with Evie’s issues on top of that. She decided to drop it, but if something like this happened again, she would press harder for information. 

“Tell me about Evie.” She said instead. “How has she been since you came back from the Isle?” 

“There’s not really anything to tell. She bawled her eyes out for hours after we got back from the Isle. She’s been emotional and moody, and she had a pretty bad nightmare on Thursday.”

“After her therapy session.” FG whispered. She felt so guilty for the part she had played in hurting Evie. 

“She won’t talk. She just keeps saying that if she acknowledges it, she’s going to fall apart and that Ellie needs her right now.” 

Before Fairy Godmother could say anything else, Dr. Rhodes came back into the room. She could practically see Mal closing off and she knew their conversation was finished for now. 

Mal was right by Evie’s side as Dr. Rhodes went through the steps to insert the IV. Evie woke up when Dr. Rhodes touched her arm. 

“M?” she whimpered, looking around in confusion. When Evie’s eyes landed on Fairy Godmother, she instantly looked away. If FG wasn’t feeling guilty before, she definitely was now. 

“It’s okay, my love.” Mal soothed as she stroked her hair. “Dr. Rhodes is going to put something in your arm called an IV that will help you get fluids without worrying about throwing them up. You need to do this so you’ll start feeling better and we can go home.” 

“I don’t wanna stay here. Please.” Evie practically begged. 

“That’s why we’re doing this. You’re safe, E.” Mal kissed her forehead. “I’m going to take off your sweatshirt so Dr. Rhodes can get to your arm.” She went to pull the sweatshirt over Evie’s head and the taller girl cried out immediately. Fairy Godmother grimaced; she remembered how bad it hurt when Jane was a baby and went too long between feedings. 

“Dr. Rhodes, we were wondering if it’s safe for Evie to breastfeed when she’s not feeling well.” Fairy Godmother asked for the girls. 

The doctor nodded. “Yes, you can still breastfeed. You being sick will actually help your body produce more nutrients for Ellie. Your germs won’t pass through your breastmilk.” 

“Is there a pump or something that she can use until it’s time to leave?” Mal demanded. Fairy Godmother looked at Evie and saw that her t-shirt was soaking wet in the chest area. Evie was biting her lip and obviously in pain. 

Dr. Rhodes went over and opened one of the cabinets in the room and pulled out a gown. “Evie, I’m going to have you change into this. You can keep your pants on, just take off your shirt and bra. That way, we can do the IV and then I’ll bring in a pump.” 

FG turned so Evie could change with Mal’s help while Dr. Rhodes went to grab a breast pump. After a few minutes, they were ready for the IV. 

Mal sat on the bed next to her girlfriend, holding her in her arms. Evie looked terrified and Fairy Godmother wondered if she was scared of needles based on this and their one month check-up where she asked if Jay could come sit with her. 

The process of putting the IV in was quick, and with Mal’s help, Evie stayed still. As soon as that was done, Mal was unbuttoning the snaps at the top of Evie’s gown and handing her the breast pump. Fairy Godmother averted her eyes to give the girls some privacy, knowing that Evie was probably already feeling extremely vulnerable. 

“I’m going to grab some medication, a thermometer, and some health shakes that will be higher in calories so that you don’t have to worry about trying to eat and keep food down.” Dr. Rhodes stated. Evie nodded in understanding and she exited the room. 

Fairy Godmother looked at the two girls. Mal was sitting on the bed with Evie between her legs, her left arm attached to the IV and using the breast pump. Evie looked beyond exhausted, and her head was resting on Mal’s shoulder. Mal’s left hand was rubbing Evie’s stomach, while her right hand was holding Evie’s hand. She just wanted to take some of their pain away. 

“Evie?” she called out. Big, brown eyes fluttered open and landed on her, but they were more guarded. It broke her heart that Evie had lost some trust in her. “I’m sorry for what happened in therapy this week.” 

She could see Evie visibly tense up, and she knew Mal felt it too when she spoke. “Fairy Godmother already told me what happened. Why didn’t you tell me?” 

Evie sighed. “I was planning on saying something this weekend. I wanted to give you as much time as I could.” 

“Evie, I don’t care what I’m dealing with. If someone is telling you that there’s a higher chance you could abuse our child, I want to know about it. Dr. Bren should have never, ever said that to you.” 

“She shouldn’t have.” FG agreed. “And I’m sorry for the role I played too. We were just hoping you would open up a little and let us in. We can tell you are struggling, Evie. No one wants you to suffer in silence.” 

“It doesn’t matter. That’s my decision, not any of yours. You don’t get to try and push me to have a reaction.” Evie said softly. 

“I just want you to know that I think you’re a wonderful mother. You have put Ellie first and done everything you can to care for her, and I know that you wouldn’t hurt her. I’m sorry we made you doubt yourself.” 

Evie just nodded her head. “Thank you.” FG knew it would take a little time for her to get over it, but at least she had heard her apology. 

Mal leaned over so she could look at Evie. “What happened after therapy?” 

“I called Carlos.” Evie admitted.

“Did you throw up?” 

“No. I wanted to, but I called Carlos instead and he talked me out of it.” 

Mal smiled and kissed Evie’s cheek. “I’m so proud of you, baby girl. That’s such a big step.” 

“You’ve grown so much.” FG added. “I can tell that you’re doing better with your eating issues.” 

Evie looked a little uncomfortable from all the praise, but she didn’t object. “Carlos told me I had to talk to you about it by this weekend or he would. I promise I was going to, M, but then you got in a fight and I got sick and…” 

“Shhh, it’s okay.” Mal interrupted. “If anything like that happens again, please tell me right away. I would have told you how wrong they were and that you are an amazing mother.” 

Evie cuddled back into her. “I’m so tired.” 

“Then sleep, baby.” Mal kissed her cheek. “We’ll be going back to the dorm soon. Close your eyes.” Evie followed her instructions. She must have been exhausted because it only took a few minutes for her to fall asleep. 

Fairy Godmother busied herself with responding a couple emails. Dr. Rhodes came back with the supplies and explained to Mal the best ways to use them. Once they were alone again, Mal spoke. 

“If she’s still sick tomorrow, we’re not coming to school.” 

FG nodded. “That would be for the best. I wouldn’t want Evie to feel horrible at school, or for the germs to spread.” Tomorrow was Evie’s therapy day, but she decided not to mention that. If the blue haired girl didn’t show up, she would bring therapy to her. 

After what she learned today, she knew Evie definitely needed it.


	38. Acceptance

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I'm warning you now, this chapter is BIG. Not only in length, but also in the content. A lot is about to happen (please check the tags for trigger warnings).
> 
> Let me know what your thoughts are!

When Evie and Mal finally left the health center, it was after dinner time. They got back to the dorm just in time for Ellie’s nighttime feed, and no one was happier than the baby. Ellie had clung to Evie, not caring at all about her overheated skin or watery eyes. Mal could tell that it was exactly what Evie needed, and she laid in bed with their daughter and fed her until they were both asleep. 

While Evie slept, Mal updated the boys on everything that happened, including what she found out about Evie’s therapy appointment. Carlos had felt bad that he didn’t tell her, but Mal reassured him that it wasn’t his fault; she was just happy that Evie had someone to confide in and that he helped her avoid throwing up. 

That night, Mal actually got a good night of sleep. Dr. Rhodes wasn’t lying when she said that the medicine would make Evie drowsy because after she took it, she slept through the night. 

On Monday morning, Mal was the first one awake, as usual. Ellie had stayed in bed with them and nursed on and off throughout the night, which she wasn’t surprised about. It was obvious that Ellie had missed Evie the day before, and she was betting that the skin on skin was helping Evie feel better too.  
Mal reached a hand out and pressed it against Evie’s skin. She was definitely still warm, but she wanted to take her temperature just in case. She grabbed the thermometer and returned to their bed. 

“Wake up, Princess.” She kissed her cheeks and forehead. She realized that it had been a full 24 hours since she had kissed her lips. She didn’t care if she got sick, she needed that contact with her girl. She pressed a kiss against Evie’s soft, full lips, feeling her respond almost immediately. After a second, Evie moved away. 

“You can’t kiss me.” She rasped out, her eyes still shut. “You’ll get sick.” 

“I don’t care. Nothing can stop me from kissing you.” Mal kissed her one more time to emphasize her point. “Open your mouth so I can take your temperature.” 

Evie groaned, but did as she ask. Mal stuck the thermometer under tongue and waited for it to beep- 101.9. Her temperature was lower, but she still had a fever. 

“Looks like we’re staying home from school today.” 

Evie eyes fluttered open and she looked up at her. “Can you cuddle me then?” 

“Whatever you want, Pretty Girl.” Mal cleaned the thermometer and put it away, then returned to their bed. She climbed under the blankets behind her and wrapped an arm around Evie’s waist, pulling her until her back was against her chest. She felt her girl sigh contently. 

Mal must have dozed off because next thing she knew, she heard Carlos and Jay moving around the room and getting dressed. She leaned up and saw that Ellie was back on Evie’s breast, though the blue haired girl was asleep. Mal kissed her forehead and sat up. 

“Want us to bring back breakfast?” Jay asked quietly. 

Mal’s stomach growled at the mention of food and she realized that she hadn’t eaten any solid meals yesterday. “Yeah if you don’t care.”

“What should I bring for E?” 

“Just get some fruit and yogurt. I don’t even know if she’ll eat, but that shouldn’t settle too bad in her stomach.”

“Got it.”

“Did you take her temperature?” Carlos wondered. 

“Yeah, about an hour ago. She’s at 101.9.” 

“Text us if it gets worse and we’ll come home and help out with Ellie.” Carlos said. They had already talked about it the night before and decided that the boys needed to go to school, and that Mal could handle both Evie and Ellie. 

Jay and Carlos grabbed their bags and then walked out of the room. Before breakfast came or her girls woke up, Mal decided to take a quick shower. The hot water felt so nice on her aching muscles and it felt great to be clean again. She brushed her teeth and then changed into a clean outfit. 

She saw movement out of the corner of the eye and noticed Evie sitting up. She had her eyes shut tightly and her head in her hands. 

“Good morning.” Mal greeted as she sat next to her. “How are you feeling?” 

“My head is killing me.” Evie admitted. She looked up at her. “You smell so good. I’m jealous that you showered.” 

“Do you want to take a shower?” 

“Not right now.” Evie sighed. “I hate this. I’m so sick of feeling so weak and exhausted.” 

“I’ll get you some more medicine. The boys went to grab breakfast, and I bet having something in your stomach would help you feel a little stronger since you didn’t eat at all yesterday. Then you can nap and I’ll take care of Ellie.”

Evie reached her hands out and Mal complied, scooting closer to her girlfriend so she could hug her. “Thank you for taking care of me.” 

Mal pressed a quick kiss to Evie’s neck. “Always, baby.” She pulled back to look at her. “I’ll grab the medicine. Is there anything else you need?” 

“A new t-shirt. I’m so sweaty.” Evie said with a grimace. 

“I’ll be right back.” 

As promised, Mal returned a moment later with a clean shirt and the pills prescribed by Dr. Rhodes. Evie swallowed them without complaint and changed her shirt, then laid back down next to Ellie. 

“Can you grab the thermometer? I want to make sure Ellie isn’t sick.” 

Mal frowned. “Does she feel warm?”

“No, but better safe than sorry.” 

She went to get the thermometer and gently slid it under the baby’s tongue. When it beeped, she smiled. “98.6. She’s perfect.” 

Evie smiled. “She sure is.” 

That was when Ellie decided to wake up. As soon as she opened her eyes, she looked around as if she was searching for Evie. When she saw her mother, she reached out and grabbed at her shirt. 

“There’s no way you’re still hungry.” Evie said in surprise. “She was up every hour trying to feed last night.” 

“I know, I kept feeling you move. Do you think maybe she’s hitting a growth spurt?” 

“Maybe. Or she could just be making up for all the calories she didn’t get on the Isle.” 

Mal shook her head. “Don’t do that. We’re going to help her gain weight, okay?” Evie nodded without argument which showed that she still wasn’t feeling well. “Give her to me and I’ll feed her cereal.” 

Evie handed Ellie over, who smiled when she saw Mal. The purple haired girl couldn’t help but smile back; she absolutely adored the eight month old. 

“Good morning, little one.” She kissed her cheek. “Let’s give Mama a break, okay? I’m going to need you to work with me today. We need to let Mama rest so she can start feeling better.” 

“Mama.” Ellie said in response. 

“Yes, Mama.” Mal changed her diaper, then put her in the high chair. She mixed together the baby cereal and right when she started to feed her, the dorm room door opened and Carlos came in. 

When Ellie saw him, she squealed loudly. He came over and kissed the top of her head. “Morning, El.” 

“I don’t understand why she likes you so much.” Mal teased. 

“Because I’m the cool uncle.” Carlos handed her a bag with food, which Mal put on the table. She watched as he went over to the bed. “Hi Princess.” 

“Hey C.” Evie sat up to talk to him. 

“You feeling any better?”

“Well I haven’t thrown up, so that’s nice. But other than that, still pretty horrible.” 

“I brought some fruit and yogurt if you want to try and eat. I bet your body could really use the nutrients.” 

Evie nodded her head and slid out from under the blankets. She walked over and plopped down on the couch, then reached for the bag. Mal smiled proudly when Evie took out the yogurt. 

“What are you guys thinking about doing for lunch?” Carlos asked. 

“You can just bring it here if you want.” 

“Okay.” Carlos kissed Evie’s forehead, then Ellie’s, and squeezed Mal’s shoulder. “See you guys in a little bit. Text me if you need me.” 

“Thanks, Carlos.” Evie told him. He left the room. 

Mal turned to look at her girlfriend. “How’s the yogurt?” 

Evie shrugged. “My stomach was growling, so it’s nice to have something.” 

She smiled. “I’m so proud of you.”

“I just want to feel better.” Evie admitted. 

“You will soon.” 

Ellie was more than happy to entertain her mothers, who couldn’t help but laugh at her cheerful mood. She was squealing and giggling, and Mal thought it was the perfect medicine for Evie. After the baby finished her food, Mal turned to Evie. 

“Should I give her a bath or just wait until tonight?” 

“Whatever you think.” Mal could tell that Evie’s stamina was dwindling. “Do you mind if I lay down for a little bit?”

“Do whatever you need to do, baby girl.” Mal kissed the top of her hand. Evie cleaned up her yogurt and then went over and laid in bed. 

Mal decided to give Ellie a bath since there wasn’t much else to do. She let the eight month old splash around with her toys while she kneeled in front of the tub. She felt bad that they had hardly seen Ellie yesterday, and it was obvious that she had missed her mothers. 

She was distracted by Ellie when all of a sudden she saw something out of the corner of her eye. Mal looked over just in time to see Evie falling on her knees in front of the toilet and throwing up. 

“Shit, baby.” She cursed. Mal reached over and gathered Evie’s hair in her hands as best as she could while still keeping an eye on Ellie. “You’re okay, E. Just breathe.”  
Ellie seemed to sense the change in mood and looked up. Mal saw tears fill her eyes and her bottom lip started wobbling. 

“It’s okay, Ellie Belly.” Mal quickly tied Evie’s hair up and then leaned over, handing the baby one of her toys. She tried her best to distract her and luckily, it worked. Mal turned to check on Evie and saw that her forehead was resting on the toilet seat, but she seemed like she was done. 

Mal got up and flushed the toilet, then grabbed a wet wash cloth. She sat back down in front of the tub and pulled Evie over to her. She guided the girl to lean against her chest and dabbed at her face with the cloth. 

“You’re alright, Pretty Girl.” She stroked her fingers through Evie’s hair. 

“Ellie…” she whimpered. 

“I’ve got my eyes on her. She’s okay.” Mal reassured her. 

“I’m so dizzy.” 

“Just close your eyes.” Mal stroked her cheek as the beautiful brown eyes she loved so much closed. 

She let Ellie play until the baby started to show signs that she was getting bored. Mal carefully washed Ellie’s hair and body while trying not to jostle Evie too much. When she finished, she drained the water from the tub. 

“Time to go lay down, baby.” Mal kissed her temple. “Come on, E. Up.” 

Evie stood slowly as Mal held onto her hips to keep her balanced. She went over to the sink to brush her teeth while Mal got Ellie dried off. They went into the bedroom together and Mal put a clean diaper and new outfit on Ellie. Evie laid down in bed. 

Mal set Ellie down on the blanket that had her toys and then went to grab a bottle of water for her girlfriend. She shook Evie’s shoulder. 

“I’m tired, M.” Evie complained. 

“I know, and you can go to sleep in a minute. Drink a little bit of water, okay? You don’t want to get dehydrated again and have to get another IV.” As she spoke, she swiped her thumb over the bruise that had been left on Evie’s arm from the IV. Evie reluctantly took a couple drinks of water, then laid down. “There you go, pretty baby. Now sleep.” Mal kissed her forehead and then went to sit on the floor with Ellie. She gave the little one a snack while she played and tried to keep her mind from automatically going to worst case scenario with Evie. 

When lunchtime rolled around, Evie was still awake. She had been tossing and turning in bed and unable to fall asleep. Mal felt guilty for not being able to do enough; she knew that if she could just cuddle Evie, she would fall asleep, but she couldn’t leave Ellie by herself. 

It was Jay who brought back lunch. Mal had texted him and asked him to bring soup and juice for Evie, and when she handed them to her girlfriend, she swore she was going to cry. 

“How’s it going in here?” Jay wondered. 

“She threw up a little bit ago and hasn’t been able to fall asleep, so could be better.” Mal answered. “Come on, E. You need as much fluids as you can get.” 

Evie pouted. “I don’t want to, M.” 

“I know. I know you’re hurting and tired, but you have to. We need you to be better.” Mal went over and scooped her up out of bed, then carried her to the couch. She kept Evie on her lap and handed her the bowl of soup. 

“Want me to feed El?” Jay asked. 

Mal glanced at him. “If you want to, you can. Or I’ll feed her after Evie’s finished.” 

“I’ve got it.” Jay scooped up the little girl and tickled her. Even Evie couldn’t stop her smile from the sound of the baby’s belly laughs. “Come on, little princess. Let’s get you something good for lunch.” He went over and looked through the jars of baby good. “Oh wow, squash! Let’s get some of that, and here is some applesauce. That’s perfect to help you get big and strong like me.” 

Mal kissed Evie’s temple. “You don’t even have to eat the noodles. Just drink the broth.” 

“I’m sorry.” Evie whimpered. 

“You have nothing to apologize for.” Mal held her tightly, encouraging her with each bite until Evie had eaten about three fourths of the soup. She looked like she was on the verge of tears, so Mal didn’t protest when she asked to stop. “You did so good, E.”

Evie handed her the bowl of soup and then laid her head on Mal’s shoulder. “Can I stay with you?” 

Mal kissed her forehead. “Always.” She set the soup down and grabbed her own food, keeping Evie on her lap as she ate. After she was finished, she looked to the clock. “Jay, you’ve gotta go.”

“Perfect timing since this one just finished eating.” Jay cleaned Ellie’s face with a wipe and then brought her to her mothers. “See you guys after school. Good job with the soup, Eves.” 

Mal could see that both of her girls were exhausted. She looked to Evie. “Do you usually feed her before naptime?” 

“Mmhmm.”

“Why don’t you lay down and feed her?” Mal suggested. She let Evie hold Ellie, then carried them both over to the bed. She set Evie down carefully and watched as she took her shirt off. Ellie instantly scooted forward so she could reach her breast and latched on with no problem. “Look at our hungry girl.” 

“She’s eating so good today.” Evie agreed. “I hope she always eats like this. I just want her to be healthy.” 

“She will be.” Mal pushed all the hair out of Evie’s face and then kissed the tip of her nose. “I’m going to clean up the bathroom. Do you have Ellie?” 

“Yeah, we’re good.” 

Mal smiled at her and then went to the bathroom. She cleaned up all the dirty clothes on the floor and then grabbed out some of the disinfectant they kept under the sink. She wiped down the toilet, sink, and bathtub to hopefully stop Evie’s sickness from spreading. Then, she cleaned all of the doorknobs and other commonly touched areas in the room. 

When she went to check on the girls, she found them both asleep. Ellie’s little lips were detached from her mother’s breast, so Mal decided to put her in her crib. She didn’t want Evie to accidentally hurt her if she had to jump out of bed to throw up again. 

Mal went to the living area next and took care of everything there, then stripped the sheets off the bed the boys usually shared so it could be washed. She was about to sort out laundry when she heard a whimper. 

At first, she assumed that it was Ellie. She went over to the crib to check on her daughter, but she was still in the same place she had left her. She heard the sound again and felt her heart sink when she realized it was Evie. 

Typically, Evie talked in her sleep when she was having a nightmare. But today, all Mal heard was whimpers and cries. Then, she started to scream. 

“You’re okay, baby.” Mal tried to tell her. She grabbed both of Evie’s hands. “It’s time to wake up now. Come back to me, Evie. Open those beautiful eyes.” 

Evie’s screams turned into crying. Mal pulled her onto her lap and rocked her back and forth. She alternated kissing her forehead and cheeks while whispering sweet nothings into her ear. 

When Evie finally became a little more aware, Mal could tell instantly by the look on her face that she was going to vomit. She jumped up, carrying her girlfriend into the bathroom and got her to the toilet just in time. Evie cried as she emptied the contents of her stomach. 

Mal shut the bathroom door to hopefully keep the noise down so Ellie could keep sleeping. The last thing she needed right now was to try and juggle a crying girlfriend and a crying baby.

Once Evie finished throwing up, Mal just hugged her. She kept her wrapped in her arms until she couldn’t feel Evie’s heart racing in her chest anymore. When her girl was finally a little calmer, Mal kissed the tip of her nose. 

“Let’s get you into a bath.” She scooted back so she could turn the water to lukewarm. Mal grabbed the thermometer again and came to Evie, who opened her mouth without question. Her temperature was 102.1, and Mal wasn’t surprised to see it had risen. As the tub filled, she went to go get a clean towel for after Evie was done. 

“Don’t leave me.” Evie cried.

Mal turned to look at her. Evie was sitting on the floor, her knees hugged to her chest. Her face was red and puffy and she looked miserable. She started to cry again. 

“I’m not leaving you.” 

“Please. I just wanna be next to you.” 

“Listen to me.” Mal cupped her cheeks gently. “Nothing in this world could take me away from you. I’m just going to get you a towel.” She put her hands under Evie’s arms and lifted her until she could stand. “Let’s get you out of these so you can get in the water.” 

Mal carefully stripped Evie out of her underwear (she was still shirtless from breastfeeding Ellie), then guided her over to the bath. She held her hands as she lowered herself into the water. 

“I’ll be right back.” 

“M…” Evie cried, hiccupping as she tried to catch her breath. 

Mal grabbed her chin gently so she had to make eye contact. “Baby, you’re safe. I promise you that things are okay. I’m not going to let anything bad happened to you.” 

Evie sniffled, then let out another sob. “You always say that and then more bad things happen.” Her face crumbled as her body shook. “I’m scared.” 

Mal was so confused about where all this was coming from. She figured that it had to do with Evie’s nightmare. “What are you scared of?” 

“What if they change their minds?” 

Mal wiped the tears off Evie’s cheeks, but they were covered again a moment later. “About what?” 

“They know what I did.” Evie whimpered. “I’m a horrible person, Mal. What if they take her away and then send me back to the Isle?” her eyes darted frantically around the room and her body tensed up. “I killed my own fucking mother.” 

Mal couldn’t sit here and listen to this anymore. She didn’t care that she was still fully clothed and that Evie was dripping wet. She leaned down and scooped Evie up out of the water, then sat on the floor with her girlfriend cradled on her lap. She put their foreheads together. 

“When I say this, I mean it. I swear to you that I will never let anyone take Ellie from you…from us. No one will _ever_ take our daughter away.” As soon as she said ‘our’ she felt Evie cuddle closer to her. Mal rubbed her back and held her close, trying to get Evie to regulate her breathing. She didn’t know what was happening, but she needed her to calm down before she worked herself into an even worse panic attack. 

It took a while, but Evie eventually calmed down. Mal leaned in and gave her a quick kiss. 

“Talk to me about how you’re feeling.” She whispered. “I need to know that you’re okay. I told you that I would give you time, but now that time has run out. It’s time to talk, my love.” 

Evie whimpered, but nodded her head. She turned to straddle Mal, not seeming to mind that she was still completely naked. Mal didn’t care either; she would do anything to get her to talk. 

“I just feel so…numb.” Evie said. “But at the same time, it’s like I’m feeling everything at once. It had been so long since I had seen my mother. There was the nine months I was pregnant, plus eight more, so it had been almost a year and a half.” Mal rubbed her lower back when she felt her start to shake. “In all my life, I had never been more scared to see her.” 

Mal leaned in and rubbed the tip of her nose against Evie’s. “Walk me through it.” 

“All those times she gave me away, it was because she wanted to gain something. She knew that if I fucked the right guy, she could have a new outfit or jewelry or shoes.” It took everything in Mal not to correct Evie, but she didn’t want her to shut down. “But on that night, she didn’t want anything from me. She didn’t have anything to lose by getting rid of me, and I knew that made her more dangerous.

“I just kept thinking that she was too close to you and Ellie, and that the minute she had the chance, she was going to kill me. It was like I couldn’t even breathe and my body was just moving on autopilot. I was so scared, and then she said something about how I had no problem whoring myself out to whoever would lower themselves to touch me and I snapped.” 

Mal listened intently. She had never heard what happened with Evie and her mother before she came outside, and she figured this was part of it. 

“I was so embarrassed, M. Ben was standing right there listening to everything she said, and it wasn’t fair. I didn’t want him to think that I was a whore. So I dug my nails into her arms and told her that I wasn’t afraid of her.” She shivered. “The look in her eyes…I’ve never seen someone look that crazy before. That’s when I realized that there was a very small chance that both of us would be walking away. She slapped me, then pulled out the knife.” 

Evie absentmindedly touched her face, and Mal remembered that she had been bleeding from her cheek that night. She guessed that the Evil Queen was wearing a ring that had pierced Evie’s skin. Mal leaned in and kissed the spot where she had bled. 

“Carlos tried to help.” Mal felt her stomach clench at the faraway look in Evie’s eyes. “But then she said she would have his mother come and asked if he wanted Ben to know he ate out of a dog bowl.” Evie started to cry. “She hurt him, and I didn’t do anything.” 

“There wasn’t anything you could have done, E. She had a knife against your throat. Carlos is a big boy, he can handle it.” 

“But he shouldn’t have to. It shouldn’t have been my mother who told his secrets.” Evie sniffled. “That’s when I heard your voice, and I knew that you had to be holding Ellie. I decided then that if I had the chance, I was going to kill her. I couldn’t let her get to you or Ellie.” 

Mal kissed Evie’s forehead and rocked her slightly, trying to give her a little break so she could collect herself. After a few minutes, she started to talk again. 

“The insults hurt. I don’t think they’ve ever stung as badly as they did that night.” Mal remembered vividly the words that the Evil Queen had hurled at her daughter. 

_Would you feel more comfortable if I stripped you out of your clothes first?_

_The chunky look might work on some girls, but you’re just a cow._

_There’s nothing about you that’s pretty to look at._

_You have never had an intelligent thought in your miserable existence._

_You are a fucked up little bitch for touching a girl the way you should be touching a prince._

_You’re not even a good slut. The first rule is to not get yourself knocked up._

_Have you told the good people of Auradon that you like whoring yourself out?_

“But it wasn’t as bad as knowing that Ellie was right there. I never wanted her to be exposed to that. I know she was sleeping the whole time and that she’s too little to understand anyways, but that’s the exact reason why we wanted her to be taken off the Isle. And Ben…” that’s when Evie really started to cry. 

“Deep breaths, baby. Try and calm down.” Mal urged. Her heart ached as she listened to Evie share what she remembered from that night. 

“Ben was so innocent, and she stole that from him.” 

“He wanted to know more. He would have dug into the Isle anyway and found out plenty of horrible things.” 

“But it shouldn’t have come from her.” Evie said sadly. “His first exposure with life on the Isle shouldn’t have been my mother asking if I gave him a turn with me and showed him everything I could do.” 

That’s when Evie truly lost it. It took a long time for her to recover as she sobbed in Mal’s arms. She didn’t know how to make this better for her. She just held her and whispered that she loved her over and over again until Evie was quiet again. 

“That’s not your fault.” Mal whispered. “There is nothing you could have done to stop her from saying that, and that’s not on you. You can’t hold yourself accountable. I know it’s shitty, but that’s the truth.” 

“When I did it, I didn’t plan it out.” Evie said, and Mal realized that she was talking about killing the Evil Queen. “She said she would give me to Quinton one last time, then kill me and Ellie. I just know that I snapped. I don’t remember anything after that until I was on top of her and choking her. Then, I stabbed her. I had to use so much strength to get the knife to go in, and she didn’t die right away. I just had to keep stabbing over and over again until finally, I didn’t feel her moving anymore. I couldn’t let her get away or she would have hurt Ellie. She would have hurt me.” 

“You’re absolutely right. It was an impossible situation, but you made the right choice. I hate that you had to be the one to do it, but if she wasn’t dead, she would have never stopped coming after you or Ellie, and probably even Harry. You did what you had to do, E.” 

“But she was right.” 

Mal noticed the faraway look was coming back. “About what?”

“She does own me. It’s never going to end.” 

“No.” Mal said, feeling the anger flare up. She lifted Evie up and carried her over, setting her on the counter so they were at eye level. She hated that she could remember what the Evil Queen said. She would never forget the broken look on Evie’s face when she spat each word out- that Evie would remember her when she looked in a mirror, when she thought about her weight, when she stuck her fingers down her throat, and when she let another person touch her the way the Evil Queen let those men touch her. 

“I remember what she said, and that’s not true.” Mal informed her. “She told you that you would see her when you stick your fingers down your throat, but guess what? You have done so well with not throwing up. You’re eating and talking about how you feel when it comes to food, and you’re trying to be better. You’re doing such an amazing job and I’m so proud of you. You’re getting out from under her influence. When you’re thinking about your weight, you’re thinking about Ellie and how you need to set a good example for our daughter.” She put a hand on Evie’s hip and turned her body so that she could see the mirror. “Look and tell me what you see.” 

Evie sniffled, but stared at her reflection. “I see us. You’re wearing clothes and I’m not.” She crossed her arms over her stomach, obviously feeling self-conscious. 

Mal grabbed Evie’s arms and pulled them away, then leaned down to give her a quick kiss on the stomach. She moved to stand behind her. “I see the person I love most in this world. I see gorgeous blue hair. I see big, beautiful, brown eyes. I see full, pouty lips that I can never get enough of. I see tiny arms, and breasts that feed our daughter and keep her healthy. I see a tiny stomach, and perfect curvy hips. I see long legs and feet with callouses from all the heels you wear. I see the person I will spend the rest of my life with. I see the girl who is more deserving of love than anyone else on this planet. I see the entire reason that I’m still breathing.” She met her eyes in the mirror, seeing that Evie was close to tears. “You’re everything to me, my baby. That’s what I want you to see when you look in the mirror.” 

Evie whimpered as she turned, wrapping her arms around Mal’s neck and clinging to her. Mal hugged her, hoping that this really stuck with her girl. She just wished Evie could see herself through her eyes. 

“I know you went through a lot because of that bitch.” Mal said as she stroked her cheek. “I know that it can be hard sometimes when we’re having sex because you have memories. But I promise you that I will always help you work through that, okay? I will always make sure that when I’m touching you, you’re only thinking of me.” 

“I love you.” Evie sniffled. She buried her face in Mal’s neck. 

“I love you too. I’m always going to be here. I’m so happy that you talked to me, and now we can start working through this. You’re torturing yourself by bottling this up, and that’s exactly what she would want. I know you can do better.” 

Evie nodded. “I want to be better.” 

“You will.” Mal gave her a kiss. As she hugged her again, she was reminded that Evie still had a fever that she needed to lower. “I’m going to carry you back over to the bath tub, okay? We need to get your fever down.”

At that point, Mal was pretty sure she could get Evie to agree to anything. She was emotionally exhausted, still crying, and looked like she could fall asleep at any minute. She carried her over to the tub and set her in the water, then sat next to her. She held Evie’s hand as she cooled off. 

Mal just let Evie sit and rest for a while. When she finally stopped crying, she started to cup handfuls of water and bring them up to Evie’s face, letting them drip over her cheeks. Evie sank lower in the water so that most of her body was covered. Her teeth chattered, but she didn’t complain. 

Once she could feel the water getting colder, Mal pulled the plug. She turned on the water again, making sure it wasn’t too warm, and started to wash Evie’s hair. She scratched against her scalp, massaging her head and hopefully not bringing back her headache. Evie just sat there with her eyes shut and let Mal work her magic. 

After she finished doing shampoo and conditioner in her hair, she moved to her face. She washed it, then used a loofa to wash her body. Mal rubbed her back and shoulders as she moved, hoping to release a little of the tension. 

Mal helped Evie out of the bathtub and into their bedroom. She grabbed her a t-shirt and a pair of underwear. Evie got dressed and immediately sat on the floor, leaning her back against the bed. Mal remembered how she said she liked to be in smaller places where her back was protected when she was upset, so she didn’t comment on it. She sat down next to her. 

Right after, Ellie woke up. Mal hauled herself up again and grabbed the little girl. She spread a blanket out on the floor across from where Evie was sitting and put Ellie down, then handed her some toys. Right now, Evie was her main focus. She knew Ellie would be okay playing, especially since she was right in front of them where they could keep an eye on her. 

There was a knock on the door and Mal looked at Evie in confusion. She glanced at the clock and realized that school was out. Her first thought was that it must be Jay since Carlos had therapy, but she had never heard Jay knock on the door before. 

“Stay right here.” She said, then went over to the door. She opened it and was surprised to see Fairy Godmother standing on the other side. 

Mal sighed, knowing that they probably wouldn’t like whatever she had to say. 

\-----

When Fairy Godmother arrived at the girls’ dorm, she could tell right away that Mal wasn’t expecting her. She took in the teenager’s appearance. She was dressed in a sweatshirt and sweatpants, but her hair didn’t look brushed and her face looked puffier than usual. When she looked closer, FG thought that she could see tear tracks on Mal’s cheeks.

“Hello, Mal.” She greeted. 

“What’s up?” Mal asked, but she still didn’t move out of the doorway. FG couldn’t hear anything behind her, so she wondered who all was in the dorm. 

“I’m here to see Evie.”

She shook her head immediately. “It’s not a good time.”

“Evie still has to have her therapy appointment.” She explained gently. “Since she’s not feeling well, we can do it here instead of in my office. I’m sorry, but it’s not optional.” 

Mal sighed loudly, then stepped out of the way. Fairy Godmother walked into the room and looked around. It had been a while since she had come to their dorm, and she was surprised to see the new baby decorations that had been set up (she also noted that there were clothes on the floor that she recognized as Jay’s and Carlos’s, but she wasn’t going to bring that up when she knew Mal and Evie were already so on edge). 

Fairy Godmother followed Mal, who went over to the side of one of the beds. Her heart nearly broke when she saw Evie. The girl was huddled on the floor with her legs pulled against her chest. She was dressed in only a t-shirt and underwear, her face was free of makeup, and her hair was dripping wet. She was staring at the floor in silence. 

FG watched Mal go over and crouch down on the floor next to Ellie, who was set up on a blanket across from her mother. After she checked on the baby, she sat down next to Evie. 

Fairy Godmother didn’t like that she was just hovering over them. Even though she had on a skirt, she carefully sat down on the floor near them, but not to where she was blocking their view of Ellie. She could just imagine how much more anxious the girls would be if they couldn’t see the baby. 

“She’s not going to give up on you either.” She heard Mal whisper to Evie, who finally moved for the first time since she came in the room. She tilted her head slightly to look at Mal. “It might be better to just talk about what happened and get it over with.” 

Evie started to cry, and judging by her red eyes and puffy face, it wasn’t the first time that day. She weakly attempted to wipe the tears off her cheeks, but it didn’t take long for more to come. “M, can you get me some clothes?” she rasped out. 

“Evie, if you’re more comfortable like that, then you don’t have to change.” Fairy Godmother interjected. “I don’t want you to ever feel like you have to dress up or try to present yourself in a certain way to talk to me.” 

The blue haired girl was still crying. She turned towards Mal and buried her face in her neck. FG wondered what had been going on that had Evie so upset. 

As if she read her mind, Mal spoke up. “She’s having a really hard day today.” She admitted as she ran her fingers through Evie’s hair. “She’s still not feeling well, and she had a nightmare.” 

FG looked at her in concern. “Have you taken her temperature with the thermometer you got from the health center?” 

Mal nodded. “It’s a little lower. She’s been taking her medicine, so that’s probably helping. She just took a lukewarm bath too.” Mal kissed her forehead. 

The headmistress decided to wait a few minutes before getting started. She focused on Ellie, who was babbling and playing without a care in the world, so that Mal could take care of Evie. She couldn’t help but think about how different the little girl’s life was going to be now that she was in Auradon- how different all of the VKs lives would be. 

After Evie seemed a little calmer, FG looked back towards her. She was still cuddled into Mal’s side, but she wasn’t hiding her face anymore. Mal had one hand on Evie’s hip and the other was holding her hand. The expression on her face told FG that she could speak, but she had to be cautious. 

“Evie, do you have nightmares often?” she decided to ask. She was met with silence. 

“Did you hear her, E?” Mal prodded gently. Evie’s bottom lip started to quiver again as she looked up at Mal with big puppy dog eyes. “Shhh, don’t cry. It’s okay, Princess. Fairy Godmother is here to help, remember? Do you want me to tell her?” Evie nodded with tears streaming down her cheeks, which Mal attempted to wipe away. “The nightmares happened more often on the Isle. She still has one every now and then; it’s been worse since we got back from the Isle.” 

Before FG could comment, Ellie started to cry. She leaned towards the baby to try and help, but Mal beat her to it. Before she could even move, Mal was up on her feet and coming over to get her. “You’re alright, sweet girl.” She carried her over to where Evie was sitting. “Baby, it’s time for her to eat.”

Evie was still crying, though her sobs had turned into hiccups. She started to take deep breaths while Mal rubbed her back soothingly. Fairy Godmother was overwhelmed with this whole situation just from watching them, so she couldn’t imagine how two sixteen year old girls were handling things. 

“I’ll take her.” Evie whimpered. 

Mal handed Ellie over, then grabbed a blanket off of the end of the bed. She handed it to her girlfriend, who put it on her lap to cover up some of her skin that was showing. Evie lifted up her t-shirt and adjusted Ellie so that she could latch onto her breast. After the little one was situated, Evie leaned back against Mal, who wrapped her arms around her girlfriend and pressed little kisses against her cheek, temple, and forehead. 

“You have so much going on right now, sweetheart.” Fairy Godmother said softly. Evie and Mal looked at her and she could see the exhaustion in both of their eyes. “I’m so sorry that everything is coming up at once. I can’t even imagine how hard all of this is for you. Dealing with being sick, taking care of a child, nightmares, and the aftermath of what happened on the Isle wouldn’t be easy for anyone, let alone a teenager.” 

“It’s not any different than usual.” This time when Evie spoke, she sounded a little more like herself, though there was still some rasp to her voice. FG didn’t know if it was caused from her sickness or crying. “Nothing is ever easy.” 

“To be completely honest, I’m worried about you, Evie.” Fairy Godmother stated. “You are so young and trying to balance everything else along with taking care of a child…” 

“You can’t take her away from me.” Evie interrupted immediately. She looked frantic as she turned towards her girlfriend. “Mal, please, she can’t take her. I can’t lose my baby.” 

“Calm down. No one is taking Gabriella away from you.” Mal said, her tone leaving no room for argument as she glared daggers into Fairy Godmother. She rocked Evie back and forth gently, obviously trying to get her to relax. 

“I’m not taking her away from you, Evie.” FG insisted. “I agree with you that she should be with her mother. I can see how much you love her and that you’re doing a great job taking care of her. All I was saying is that I know it’s hard and…” 

Before she could finish her sentence, Evie started to move. She pulled Ellie away from her breast and passed her to Mal, then jumped up. “I’m gonna throw up.” She ran into the bathroom, leaving Ellie screaming and Mal and FG staring at each other. 

Mal looked down at the baby and started to rock her. “You’re alright, Ellie Belly. Mama will be back soon. Shhh, no crying, little one.” As she spoke, FG could hear something change in Mal’s voice. When she looked at her a little closer, she realized the other girl was close to tears. 

“Mal, how long has she been like this?” 

Mal looked up at her, the nervousness coming off her in waves. She was quiet, and FG didn’t think she was getting an answer. “Ever since we came back from the Isle.” She admitted in a whisper. She bit her lip for a moment, then must have decided to share more. “She won’t talk to me. She killed her mother and she’s holding onto that and torturing herself over it. I’m trying everything to get her to open up, and finally today she did talk a little. I don’t know what to do to help her.” 

Fairy Godmother smiled sympathetically. “You’re not supposed to have all of the answers. I know you love Evie with all of your heart, but sometimes, things are out of your control. She’s going to need time to cope with this; you can’t always just fix her.” 

She watched a tear fall from Mal’s eye, but she wiped it away quickly. “I need to check on E.” 

“Would you like me to hold Ellie?” 

Mal passed the eight month old over, then stood and went into the bathroom, shutting the door behind her. 

Fairy Godmother smiled down at the child in her arms. There was no denying that Ellie belonged to Evie. She had the same perfect features as her mother, and she was absolutely gorgeous, even when she was upset. FG bounced her up and down. 

“I know you’re hungry, Ellie. Your mom will be back soon. You’re safe here and everything is going to be alright. I promise.” 

It didn’t take long to get Ellie to calm down. FG set her back on the blanket and gave her a few toys, which helped. By the time Evie and Mal returned, Ellie was smiling and content again. 

FG let her eyes drift to the girls. Evie looked absolutely exhausted. She was clinging to Mal’s arm, and still sniffling. Mal led her back to their spot on the floor and sat down, then pulled Evie onto her lap. She hugged her and rocked her back and forth. 

“Ellie…” Evie whispered. 

“She’s okay right now, baby. Let’s take care of you first.” Mal told her. Evie just nodded and buried her face in her girlfriend’s neck. 

Fairy Godmother didn’t think there was much of a chance of Evie talking today. It was obvious that she was exhausted in every aspect of her life and she needed rest more than anything. She decided to occupy her time by playing with Ellie and keeping her content so that Mal could focus on Evie. 

When she chanced a look at the teenagers, FG realized that Evie was asleep on Mal’s lap. Mal was stroking her back and holding her close, kissing her forehead every so often. 

FG decided to break the silence. “You know, if it ever gets to be too much and you can’t handle what’s going on, you can always call me.”

Mal nodded. “Thanks.” 

“Now, are you ready for Tourney?” 

Mal looked at her in a mixture of shock and anger. “There’s no way I can leave her like this.” 

“What if I stay here?” Fairy Godmother offered. She knew that no matter what she said, Mal was always going to push herself to be the protector for her group, especially Evie. If the girl needed her, Mal would be by her side without a second thought towards her own wellbeing. She wanted her to have an opportunity to be a teenager. “I’ll sit here and watch Gabriella for you.” 

Mal looked hesitant. “I don’t think…”

“You deserve a break, Mal.” FG finally said. “You’re going to be burnt out if you’re trapped around all of this emotion all day. Go to Tourney.” 

Mal was quiet for a moment, but she must have realized the headmistress was right because she nodded. She carefully stood, holding Evie in her right arm so she could pull back the blankets with her left. Then, she laid her down on the mattress and covered her up. Evie didn’t move a muscle. 

She disappeared into the closet for a moment and when she returned, she was dressed in her practice uniform. She went over to the mini fridge and grabbed a bottle, which Fairy Godmother accepted. “Give this to her. She might not drink the whole thing because she’s used to being breastfed. There are little snacks over by her changing table, along with diapers and wipes. I’ll keep my phone by my water bottle so you can call if you need me. Please try not to wake Evie up unless it’s an absolute emergency.”

“I think we’ll be okay.” Fairy Godmother reassured her. 

Mal scooped Ellie up and gave her a kiss on the forehead. “Be good for Fairy Godmother, okay? We can trust her. She’ll take good care of you, so don’t give her too hard of a time. Try not to wake up Mama.” Mal kissed her head again and then handed her to the headmistress. 

FG stuck the bottle in Ellie’s mouth, smiling when the baby immediately started to drink. It was obvious that she didn’t like the bottles as much as her mother’s breast, but she was content for now. FG observed Mal, watching as she went over to the bed. 

She sat on the edge, then leaned down and kissed Evie’s forehead for a long moment. “I love you.” Mal whispered. She smoothed Evie’s hair back and then grabbed her Tourney bag. “I’ll be back. Thanks for staying.” 

“Of course, dear. Try and have fun.” 

Mal looked as if half of her heart was being left behind, and Fairy Godmother realized that was pretty much true. Mal left without another word while FG chose to focus on Ellie. 

She didn’t know what she could do to help Evie, but she knew she had to think of something fast before the girl spiraled to a place she couldn’t be brought back from. 

\-----

By Monday night, Evie’s fever had broken. She slept through most of the day, only waking up when evening came so she could do Ellie’s nighttime feeding and put her to bed. Mal even got her to eat a little bit of soup before she fell back asleep.

On Tuesday morning, Evie felt much better when she woke up. She sat up and stretched her arms out, then glanced over at Mal. Her girlfriend was already awake and staring up at her. 

“Good morning.” Evie greeted, trying not to frown when she heard how raspy her voice still was. 

“Morning.” Mal sat up. “How are you feeling?” 

“A lot better.” 

Mal leaned forward and pressed her lips against Evie’s head. She nodded in approval. “You don’t feel as warm. We should still take your temperature though.” Evie followed her into the bathroom. Mal handed over the thermometer and Evie stuck it into her mouth, waiting until it beeped. 

“98.8.” Evie read. “No fever.” 

“Guess that means you’re going to school today.” Mal stroked her cheek for a second, then gave her a soft kiss on the lips. “I’m happy you’re feeling better.” 

“Me too.” Evie ran a hand through her hair, grimacing when she realized how greasy it was. “I’m going to take a shower before I feed Ellie. Wanna join me?”

“Mmhmm.” 

The two of them showered quickly, knowing that they didn’t have a lot of time. It was Carlos’s turn to stay home with Ellie, so they would need to get everything ready for the day and then make sure they were in the cafeteria in time for breakfast. After they finished, Evie threw on a pair of underwear and then went over to Ellie’s crib. 

“Good morning, my love.” She kissed her cheek and carried her over to the changing table so she could put a clean diaper on her. “Are you ready for milk?” Ellie automatically leaned towards her chest and latched on. “M, did you see that? She did it all by herself!” 

“She’s so smart, like her mama.” Mal smiled and Evie noticed that it was a little tight around the edges. She knew that Mal was probably worried about her because of yesterday. She didn’t know how to tell Mal that she was okay when it was pretty obvious that she wasn’t. 

Evie sat on their bed and fed Ellie while Mal got dressed. Then, the purple haired girl made sure there was enough of Ellie’s snacks, baby food, and a bottle of breastmilk for naptime so that Carlos would be able to take care of her today. She woke Jay up, then came over to sit next to Evie. 

“Almost done?” 

“Yeah, she’s being kind of clingy today.” 

“She probably missed you.” Mal pressed a kiss against Evie’s cheek. “I love you, baby.” 

Evie turned to look at her. She could see the concern on her face, and it made her heart ache. She hated that Mal had to worry about her. “I love you too, M.” she kissed her lips. 

Ellie was finally finished, so Evie passed her over to Mal and went to get ready. She worked quickly through her usual hair and makeup routines, then got dressed. By the time she was done, Mal and Jay were already ready and waiting for her. 

“Be good for Carlos.” Evie said to Ellie before kissing her forehead. “We’ll see you soon.” She carefully took her from Mal and carried her over to where Carlos was laying. She knew that he wasn’t asleep; like Mal, he was an extremely light sleeper. He held his arms out and Evie handed the baby to him. 

“I’m bringing her to Goodness class, right?”

“Yep. Please make sure you bring her some snacks and a few toys, and obviously a clean diaper and wipes.” 

“Got it.” 

“M, do you know where Ellie’s coat is?” she asked, turning to her girlfriend for help. 

“Right here.” Mal pointed towards where the little blue coat was laying on Evie’s desk. “I already set an outfit out for her, it’s on the changing table for whenever you’re ready to get her dressed.” 

“Thanks.” Carlos said. “You guys better go before you run out of time to eat.”

“I’ll bring back your breakfast.” Jay told him. 

The three teenagers grabbed their backpacks and walked out the door. Evie immediately reached her hand out and linked her fingers with Mal’s. She was dreading having to eat breakfast, but she knew that she needed to get back on track. If she wasn’t eating enough, then her body wouldn’t be able to produce milk for Ellie and her baby needed her. 

When they got down to the cafeteria, Jay led the way towards the food line. Evie grabbed her usual- a cup of vanilla yogurt, strawberries, and apple juice. Jay was piling his plate high with pancakes, bacon, eggs, and milk, while Mal chose waffles, strawberries, sausage, and water. Jay also grabbed a to-go box and filled it with the same thing he had gotten so that he could take it back to Carlos. 

They went over to their usual table where some of the Auradon kids were sitting. Audrey, Ben, Jane, Doug, and Lonnie already had their plates and they were talking and laughing without a care in the world. As soon as they got close, Jane’s eyes widened and her mouth shut. 

“Good morning.” Evie greeted before taking a seat next to Lonnie. Mal sat on her other side, while Jay went around the table and ended up next to Doug. 

“Hey Evie.” Audrey smiled at her. “You look like you feel a lot better.” 

“I do. Thank you for helping Mal with taking me to the health center.” Evie said. “I really appreciate it.” 

Audrey shrugged. “It wasn’t a big deal. Now that you’re feeling better, can we plan another shopping trip? Maybe for this weekend?” 

“Can I come?” Lonnie chimed in. “I haven’t been shopping in forever, and maybe while we’re there I can talk you into making me a new outfit.” She directed the last comments towards Evie with a sly smile. 

Evie couldn’t help but smile back. Lonnie reminded her a lot of how Mal would be if she wasn’t raised to guard her feelings and didn’t have to watch her back at all times. Lonnie was opinionated, stubborn, and wasn’t afraid to let anyone else know how she was feeling. 

“Of course.” Evie agreed. “Can I let you know later this week if the weekend will work? I need to make sure Ellie is good and that all of my homework is finished.” She noticed Ben nodding at her in approval at that statement and she resisted her urge to laugh. “Hey Jane, would you want to come too?” 

Jane looked at her in shock. “Me?” 

“You should totally come, Jane.” Audrey chimed in. “Evie is the best at picking out fabrics that match your skin tone. Most of the time, she’ll even agree to make you something!” 

“O-okay.” Jane seemed to relax a little bit. 

Evie turned to Mal. “You could come too, you know.” 

“Shopping is your thing. I’ll stay home with El so you can go have fun.” Mal leaned in and kissed the tip of her nose.

Evie looked down at her strawberries and started to cut them up. She really wasn’t in the mood to eat. She dumped the fruit into her yogurt and stirred it around. Once it was completely mixed up, she took a tiny bite. Her stomach lurched at the bit of food. Instantly, she felt Mal’s hand settle on the small of her back and rub in tiny circles. 

“Take it slow, babe.” Mal said quietly so only she could hear. “You were just puking for two days. It’s okay for you to not eat everything right now. Just try your best.” 

Evie nodded in response. She took another bite, then a sip of her apple juice. She felt her stomach roll at the flavor of juice. She reached over and grabbed Mal’s bottle of water and took a sip to get rid of the taste.

“Trade me.” Mal told her, taking her apple juice instead. 

“Thank you.” Evie rewarded her with a bright smile. She was lucky to have a girlfriend who paid so much attention to her and would do anything to help her.

“See you guys in English.” Jay called to the girls before getting up to throw his trash away. They knew that he was taking Carlos’s breakfast to him before the bell rang.

Evie ate about half of her yogurt before it was time to go to first period. Everyone stood and started to clean up their garbage. They dumped their trash into the garbage cans, and then Mal grabbed her hand and led her down the hallway. They got to English class first and sat down, and then Jay came in a moment later and sat on Evie’s other side. 

English was one of her best subjects, so Evie caught on quickly. She didn’t have time to catch up on her work she missed yesterday, so she was doing her best to participate today and complete everything. After she answered her third question, she saw Mal smirking at her. 

“What?” 

“You’re such a nerd.” Mal teased. Evie just rolled her eyes and got back to work. 

After English, they separated. Mal went to art class, while Evie and Jay went to study hall. She pulled out her missing work from yesterday, knowing that she needed to at least have her math done for next period. 

“They’ll understand that you were sick.” Jay commented. “You don’t have to rush to catch up on things.” 

“Yes I do. I already miss enough school because of Ellie. The last thing I want is one of the teachers going to FG or Ben and saying that we’re not getting our work done. I need to be on top of things so that I can take care of my kid.” 

Jay smiled. “You know, I never doubted that you would be, but you’re an amazing fucking mom.” 

“Thank you, Jay.” She beamed in pride. “Now how about you help me with this?” 

He sighed dramatically. “If I have to, I guess I will.” 

They met back up with Mal for next period, which was math class. Evie knew that if there was anyone who would be hard on her for missing school, it was Mr. Reynolds. He had definitely mellowed out now that Mal and Jay weren’t constantly terrorizing him, but he was still the most strict of their teachers. 

Luckily, it was a review day and they got to work together to complete a packet. Mal and Jay were both pouting, but Evie loved when they had work to do instead of just listening to a lecture. She helped Mal work through the problems, knowing that math was not her girlfriend’s strong subject. 

After math, they walked to Goodness class. Evie, Mal, and Jay waited in the hallway until they saw Carlos. He was holding Ellie carefully, who was bundled up and looked happy. They moved aside so he could go in first. 

When they got into the room, Ellie scanned her eyes over them. Evie was about to reach forward and take her when Ellie instead held her arms out towards Mal. Normally, Ellie chose Evie over everyone, especially if they had been separated for a couple hours. Mal looked at her as if she was asking permission, and Evie just smiled and nodded. 

“Hi Ellie Belly!” Mal scooped her up and kissed her cheek. “Were you good for Carlos today?” 

“She’s been perfect.” Carlos said. “She ate all of her breakfast, took a good nap, had a snack, and then we played for a little bit.” 

“Thank you.” Evie told him with a smile. She heard Ellie giggle and saw that Mal was holding her up above her head. “Can I say hi to our baby or are you just going to hog her?” 

“Did you hear that, El? I think Mama is jealous.” Mal joked. She pretended to make the baby fly into Evie’s arms. “Come on, let’s sit.” She took Ellie’s diaper bag from Carlos and put a hand on Evie’s back to guide her to their seats. 

“Hello, children!” Fairy Godmother greeted in her usual cheery voice. “Evie, are you feeling better?” 

“Yes, thank you.” Evie adjusted Ellie in her arms so that she could sit on her lap but face towards Mal, who was handing her toys and feeding her snacks. 

“I have a special lesson for today. We are going to go over proper procedure in Auradon for when someone is sick, and what you should do if you or someone you know isn’t feeling well.” 

Evie was actually very grateful for FG’s lesson. It was something she wished they had learned right when they came to Auradon. She made sure that she paid attention in case any of them were to get sick. She would hate if it was Ellie who ended up with a fever and she had no idea how to react. 

Goodness class went by quickly and when the bell rang, Evie started to pack up all of Ellie’s items that were spread across the table. FG came over to them. 

“Mal, I will be joining your therapy session today. Is that alright with you?” 

Mal shrugged. “I don’t care.” 

“Excellent. I will see you later, and Miss Ellie, I look forward to seeing you tomorrow!” she reached out, letting Ellie latch onto her index finger. Evie smiled at how easily her baby trusted the woman. Knowing that Ellie wouldn’t have to grow up in constant fear made all the bad things that had happened in her life worth it. 

Lunch was pretty uneventful. Evie ate three fourths of her salad, earning a kiss from Mal as her reward. They said goodbye to Ellie and Carlos, then went to history class. They had a pop quiz, and luckily most of the information on it had been covered last week, so Evie knew almost all of the answers. 

“Have fun in fashion.” Mal said before pressing their lips together. Evie had noticed that her girlfriend always got a little antsy right before sixth period, and she figured it was because they were all separated. Mal always walked her to her class, and then her and Jay would go to their own classes. 

“Go control your magic.” Evie replied, then gave her another kiss. 

“I swear, you guys are sickening enough that you make me want to vomit.” Jay interrupted. 

“Maybe it’s time for you to find your own special someone, Jay.” Evie told him. “You seem to be pretty jealous of our relationship.” Mal burst out laughing, which made Evie smile. 

Jay rolled his eyes. “You caught me. I’m just over here wishing that someone would walk in and sweep me off my feet.”

“Well that is way more information than I ever wanted to know about you.” Audrey teased as she came over. “Come on, Evie.” She walked into the room. Evie smiled one last time and then followed Audrey to their usual seats. 

“Evie!” Mrs. Andrews came over to her. “I’m so happy to see that you’re here.” 

“Sorry Mrs. Andrews, I was sick.” 

“Audrey told me. Don’t worry about catching up on any work for my class, I would say that you’re already pretty far ahead.” The woman smiled. “I hope that you’ll be at sewing club today. We’ve missed you the past couple times.”

Evie didn’t know why she decided to do it, but she didn’t want to disappoint the teacher who believed in her more than any other adult (besides maybe Fairy Godmother) ever had. 

“I don’t know if Prince Ben or Fairy Godmother has told you this, but I have an eight month old daughter.” Evie confided. She was glad that class hadn’t started yet and that everyone else was too busy chatting with their friends to pay attention to her. “She’s been in Auradon for two weeks now and I’ve been trying to help her get settled. She is my priority, but I would like to still do sewing club.” 

“Oh wow, I can’t even imagine how tough the past few weeks have been for you. Do you have someone who is helping you with your child?” 

“My girlfriend, Mal, and my friends Jay and Carlos. I talked to them about sewing club, thanks to Audrey,” she gave her a pointed look and Audrey just smiled innocently as if she hadn’t been meddling, “and they want me to be able to keep coming. They’re going to watch her for me so that I can come to the meetings.” 

“That’s wonderful!” Mrs. Andrews said. “I know that you’re going through a lot, but you have too much talent to let it go to waste, Evie. If there is anything I can do to help make your life a little easier, please let me know.” 

Evie smiled. “Thank you.” She was happy that she had decided to talk to her teacher. 

Fashion was easy, as usual, and then it was time for her last class of the day- chemistry. Chemistry had always been relaxing to Evie, and today she felt the same. As the school day started to end, she felt herself settling down. All she had to do was go to sewing club and then she could relax. 

“So Carlos is keeping Ellie, and Jay, you’re going back to help out, right?” Mal asked after class. 

“Yep, and then we’ll meet you guys at the Tourney field to give Ellie to Evie before practice.” Jay confirmed. 

“Good luck in therapy.” Evie said to Mal. 

“Have fun at sewing club.” Mal cupped both of her cheeks and pulled her forward for a kiss. “See you in a little bit.” 

Evie walked to sewing club, thinking that today hadn’t been so bad. Maybe she was finally starting to get back to normal. 

\-----

When Mal walked into therapy, she didn’t say a word. She didn’t have any interest in being around Dr. Bren after finding out what she had said to Evie during her last appointment. She knew that she was being a little overprotective, but no one else had ever bothered to protect her girl, so it was a job she took very seriously. She dropped her backpack on the ground, sat down in her usual seat, and crossed her arms over her chest. 

“Hello, Mal.” Dr. Bren greeted. Mal just stared at her, waiting to see if she would understand why she wasn’t speaking. 

“Mal, today we want to talk about Evie.” Fairy Godmother chimed in. 

Mal leaned forward. “Great, because that’s what I wanted to talk about too.” She looked at Dr. Bren. “Let’s talk about how inappropriate you were last week when you accused my girlfriend of abusing my child.” 

Dr. Bren nodded. “I’m sorry. I didn’t have the intention of hurting Evie’s feelings, but I can see how it would be taken that way. When I speak with you, I know that you like to hear facts and you like examples that relate to your life. It helps you make better sense of what I’m trying to explain to you. I was trying to do the same thing with Evie, and I realize that I was way too harsh with her. I wasn’t trying to imply that Evie would ever hurt Gabriella. I just wanted her to know the very real risks that are there. It’s best for her to know all of the facts of what could happen so that she can stop herself before anything like this could happen.” 

“My mother used to beat me.” Mal stated dryly. “When are you going to warn me about that? Or does that not matter because I’m not Gabriella’s biological parent?” 

“Mal.” Fairy Godmother interrupted. “No one is questioning your place in Ellie’s life. We know that you are Ellie’s parent too.” 

Mal knew that she couldn’t drag this out forever, but she wanted to get her point across. “Here’s what I’m going to say. Evie is very sensitive when it comes to her ability to be a mother, which is ridiculous because she is amazing. Don’t ever talk to her like that again and imply that she could hurt Ellie.” She caught the look that Fairy Godmother was giving her out of the corner of her eye and sighed. “Please.” 

“I will do my best to respect that boundary.” Dr. Bren agreed. “I truly am sorry, and I’m going to apologize to her tomorrow at her appointment too.” 

“Good.” Mal nodded in approval. She really didn’t want to talk to Dr. Bren, but she knew there were more pressing issues at hand than her personal feelings for the therapist. “Alright, what’s next?” 

Fairy Godmother took over from there. “Mal, as I’m sure you know, I’m very worried about Evie. After seeing her yesterday, it’s becoming very obvious to me that she is not okay. We need to talk about what we can do to help her.” 

Mal didn’t want to betray Evie’s trust. She didn’t want to go behind her back and talk about her to Dr. Bren or FG. But Evie was getting a point where she was spiraling and Mal didn’t know how to handle it anymore. She knew that if she wanted Evie to get better, she was going to need some help. “Okay. What do you need from me?”

“Tell us about how Evie has been since she got back. How are her moods, her sleeping, and her eating habits? Is she having nightmares? How is her relationship with Ellie? Have you noticed any changes in your relationship with Evie?” Dr. Bren asked. 

“Well nothing has changed with Evie’s relationship with Ellie. She stepped right back in and has been taking care of her like nothing ever happened. When Ellie is around, Evie is the most like herself. She told me that Ellie needs her right now, so she can’t break. She has been trying so hard to prove that she’s a good mom because part of her is still scared that you are going to change your mind and have Ellie taken away from her.” 

Dr. Bren nodded her head at that explanation and wrote something down on her clipboard. “Okay, I will figure out a way to address that fear.” 

“After we left the Isle, Evie broke down in the limo on the way back to Auradon. I kept trying to get her to calm down because Ben was there and I didn’t want to freak him out, but she couldn’t hold it in. She cried from the minute we crossed over until hours later. At that point, she still thought that she was going to have to give Ellie up, so she was scared for her and upset about the fact that she had to kill her mother. She was afraid that she would be put back on the Isle for killing her mother.” 

Mal paused. This seemed like a better time than any to confess what had really happened on the Isle. She knew that FG would probably tell Dr. Bren anyway. She looked at the headmistress, silently asking if she should include the extra detail, and FG nodded. 

“When we were on the Isle, I killed someone. It was this guy, Tristan, and he was threatening to tell our mothers that we were there. If he had told my mother, she would have killed us on the spot. I didn’t want Evie’s mother to know either, but obviously someone else must have seen us and told. Tristan put his hands on Evie and I had to kill him. When we got back, Evie was crying and saying she didn’t want to go back, and I told her that if they sent her to the Isle for killing her mother, then I would tell that I killed Tristan and get sent back with her.” 

“I spoke to Ben about that.” Fairy Godmother stated. “He told me that as long as you told Dr. Bren what happened so she could help you work through it, we can move on. He wants you and Evie to know that he’s on your side, Mal. He would do anything to make you feel safe.”

Mal nodded. She needed to remember to thank Ben next time she saw him. 

“Would you like to focus on what happened on the Isle for the rest of this session?” Dr. Bren questioned. 

“No.” Mal insisted. “I want to figure out what to do to help Evie.” 

“Alright. Keep going.” 

“Evie was up the entire night, besides a little nap. One thing that’s weird about E is that she can go days without sleeping. When this happens, she’s usually pretty anxious and uncomfortable the entire time, but she’ll stay up for so long that it’s impossible for her to sleep without having a nightmare. That’s what happened when she went to the health center; Jay said she was eating and taking her medicine, but she hadn’t slept at all. When I got there, she was having a nightmare. She’s been having nightmares every few days since then, and she had one that was so bad last Thursday that I could barely wake her up. Her eating hasn’t been bad, and she’s been saying that she wants to stick to her meal plan. There are times where she gets too worked up and can’t eat, but majority of the time, she eats something for all three meals. 

“Things with Evie haven’t been all bad though. She’s been staying up on her school work and designing, and she’s still the same person. It’s just like she’s not all the way there. I always feel like she’s holding something back, and I keep trying to get her to open up, but she refuses. That’s not normal for her. Ever since we were kids, we’ve made it a rule that we don’t keep things from each other. But she keeps saying she needs to be strong for Ellie.” 

“Has she opened up at all?” Fairy Godmother wondered. 

“She did talk to me yesterday before you got there. I think that’s why she was so upset when you saw her. She wasn’t feeling good, then she had a nightmare. I talked her into opening up a little bit, and then you came. It was too much at once for her.” 

“That would be a lot for anyone.” Dr. Bren agreed. “Fairy Godmother and I have noticed that ever since you all came back from the Isle, Evie hasn’t been as cooperative during her therapy appointments. Do you think that’s part of her trying to keep it together?” 

“Yeah.” Mal said. “For a while, she wasn’t as upset when it was her therapy day, but I’ve noticed she’s been really anxious before them. I think she’s still scared about possibly being locked up in the health center. If there’s one thing Evie has hated since we came to Auradon, it’s the health center.” 

“As of now, we don’t have any plans to bring her back there.” Fairy Godmother reassured her. “When we see Evie tomorrow, we can do our best to address that. You did a good job today, Mal.” She smiled at her. “Is there anything else you think we need to know about Evie?”

Mal thought for a second, then looked at the women. “Just try and go easy on her. She needs help, but if you overwhelm her at once, she’s going to shut down. I…I need her. I need her to feel better and to be okay.” 

Dr. Bren smiled. “I promise you that we are going to do our best to help her. Next week, I want to focus on you and what happened on the Isle. Start trying to prepare yourself for that, okay?” 

“Okay.” Mal grabbed her backpack, knowing that was the end of her therapy appointment. 

She took her time walking to Tourney. All she kept wondering was if she had done the right thing. Did she say too much? Should she have said more? She just needed Evie to be able to get some of the weight off her chest. She wanted to be able to look at her girl and see that she was really, truly happy. 

When she got to the Tourney field, she saw Evie, Jay, Carlos, and Ellie were waiting. Jay was holding Ellie, plus his Tourney bag and Mal’s, while Carlos was carrying his own bag, and Evie was holding her backpack. It was freezing outside today and she could see them shivering. Carlos saw her first, and then they were all turning to look at her. 

“Babe, it’s too cold for her to stay out here for all of practice, and you’re still getting over being sick.” Mal stated as soon as she was within earshot. She went to Evie and reached out to touch her arms, rubbing them up and down to generate heat. “You need to go back to the dorm.” 

Evie nodded. “Yeah, we’re gonna go rest, right Ellie?” 

“How are you feeling?” Mal couldn’t help but ask. 

The blue haired girl shrugged. “I’m really tired, and my body is still kind of achy. But still way better than yesterday.” 

Mal pulled her into a hug, causing Evie to immediately melt into her. She squeezed her tightly and reached a hand up to play with the little baby hairs that touched the back of her neck. 

“You had such a good day today.” She kissed her forehead. “You’re so strong, my Princess.” 

Evie let out a sigh. “I’m just so tired.” 

“I know.” Mal squeezed a little tighter. “After practice, I’ll take Ellie and you can go to bed early tonight.” 

“That’s not fair.” 

“You’re still getting over being sick. You still need to be resting.” Mal leaned in and gave her a gentle kiss on her lips. “Was sewing club okay?” 

Evie smiled, though it wasn’t her usual one that made her eyes light up and her nose scrunch. “Yeah. Mrs. Andrews asked me to make a dress for her for a meeting she has coming up.” 

“That’s amazing!” Mal nearly shouted. “Look at my girl, taking over Auradon.” She rubbed their noses together. “I don’t say it enough, but I’m so fucking proud of you.” 

“I’m proud of you too, M.” Evie leaned towards her under their foreheads were touching. “You have worked so hard to get away from what your mother tried to make you into. You are loving and so good at taking care of us. You’re the best mommy, and the best girlfriend in the world.” 

Mal was grateful that Coach blew his whistle for practice to start because she was tearing up. She pressed kisses against Evie’s lips and cheeks until she heard her giggle. 

“Go back to the dorm. Take care of yourself and our girl. I’ll be there as soon as practice is over.” 

“M’kay.”

Mal gave her one last kiss, then took Ellie from Jay. She kissed her too, then passed her to Evie. “Is your backpack too heavy? You can leave it and I’ll bring it up.” 

“I’m fine, M.” Evie touched her cheek for a moment. She smiled one of her small, shy smiles. “See you soon.” 

Mal stared at Evie’s back, watching as she walked away with Ellie tucked safely in her arms. She felt someone punch her arm and almost exploded, until she realized it was just Jay. 

“Go change before you get in trouble, Romeo.” 

“Fuck off.” 

Practice was rough and it felt like it lasted for forever. Since it was freezing, every hit Mal took felt even worse than usual. Her teeth were chattering and she had to constantly rub her hands together to keep them from getting too cold. When it was over, Mal was the first one in the locker room to change. She didn’t even wait for the boys before going back to the dorm, knowing that they would go to their room to shower and change anyway. 

When she walked into the room, she was surprised to see that it was empty. Then, she heard quiet laughter and the sound of splashing and saw that the bathroom door was shut. She dropped all of her stuff on the ground and went to knock on the door. 

“E?”

“Come in!” Evie called back. 

Mal opened the door and smiled at what she saw. Evie and Ellie were in the bath together, the eight month old absolutely fascinated with holding handfuls of bubbles. Evie was sitting with her legs bent and Ellie sitting on her stomach, her back resting against her mother’s legs. 

“Watch!” Evie said excitedly. Ellie held up the bubbles in her hand and Evie blew as hard as she could, causing the bubbles to fly away. Ellie burst out in giggles, which made Evie laugh too. Mal couldn’t help but notice that this time, she was really smiling. She watched as that beautiful smile she loved so much filled her girlfriend’s entire face, making her nose scrunch and her eyes sparkle. Ellie grabbed another handful of bubbles and held her hand towards Mal. “Are you showing Mommy your bubbles? Tell her, Ellie! Say ‘blow’.” 

Ellie babbled and Mal blew the bubbles, making Ellie giggle again. Mal couldn’t help but laugh too. 

“Do you want to get in with us?” Evie asked as she reached out to hold Mal’s hand. 

“I don’t want to interrupt your time with her.” 

“You’re not interrupting. Come on.” She looked at Ellie. “Should Mommy get in the water? Tell her, Ellie. Say ‘come on, Mommy’!” 

“Alright, I’m coming.” Mal gave in. She stripped out of her practice clothes and got into the warm water. She sat down so that she was across from Evie. Evie sat up and crossed her legs, then sat Ellie on her lap. 

Ellie smacked her hands down against the water, letting out a surprised gasp when it splashed up and hit her face. She looked up at Evie in confusion. 

“Look, Ellie. Splash the water.” Evie reached her own hand out and splashed some of the water. “It’s okay, it’s just water. It doesn’t hurt.” 

Now that she had some reassurance from her mom, Ellie was a little more confident. She started to hit her hands harder against the water. 

“Try your feet.” Mal urged her. She reached out and touched one of Ellie’s feet. She pulled it out of the water and then dropped it back in. When the water splashed, Ellie squealed in delight. She started to kick her feet. Water was splashing on both girls and the floor, but they were too happy to care.

After a little while of playing, Mal looked up at Evie and her eyes instantly went to her breasts. “Baby?” 

“Hmmm?”

“Your milk is leaking.” 

Evie glanced down at her chest. “Warm water, remember?” Mal did remember; right after Ellie was born, there were many times where Evie would sit in warm water to help her milk come in so that feeding would be easier.

“Did you feed her already?”

“No, I just gave her one of her little snacks when we came back to the room.” Evie lifted Ellie up and turned her so that she was facing her. “Ellie, it’s time for milk.” 

Mal couldn’t help but laugh when Ellie leaned forward right away and attached her lips to one of Evie’s nipples. Evie winced, but then she was laughing too. 

“I guess she knows what ‘milk’ means.” Mal teased. “Do you want me to go make dinner while you feed her?” 

“Can you sit behind me?” Evie asked. 

Mal nodded and stood. Evie scooted up so that she could fit. She sat down carefully, then pulled Evie between her legs so that she could lean against her. Evie was holding Ellie against her chest, who was suckling happily. 

“This is perfect.” Evie whispered. “Being with both of you…I’ve really needed this.” 

“I want to talk to you about something, but I don’t want to ruin your mood. It can wait.” 

Evie tilted her head up so she could make eye contact. “Can we just sit here for now? We can talk later.” 

“Whatever you want, Pretty Girl.” Mal kissed her shoulder. She wrapped her arms around Evie’s stomach and rested her chin on her shoulder, watching as Ellie’s eyes drifted shut while she drank her milk. Evie’s eyes shut too and it wasn’t long before she fell asleep. 

Mal was perfectly content to just sit in the warm water and hold her girls. She knew she needed to talk to Evie about therapy, but she didn’t want to ruin her mood or wake her up. She could tell part of Evie’s tiredness was recovering from being sick, and part of it was just being exhausted with holding everything in. 

She let Evie rest until the water got cold. She pressed feather-light kisses down Evie’s neck and shoulder, waiting until she finally moved. 

“Come on, it’s time to get out.” Mal pushed Evie into a sitting position and stood up. She grabbed a towel and wrapped it around herself, then came over to the tub. She took Ellie, who looked half asleep, from Evie and wrapped her in a towel, then gave a third one to Evie. They drained the water from the tub and then went into the bedroom. 

Jay and Carlos were watching TV and neither of the boys said a word when they came out. Mal got Ellie into a clean diaper and a onesie while Evie got dressed, and then Evie took the baby so Mal could get dressed. When she was finished, she saw that Evie had gone over and sat on the couch between the boys. Her knees were tucked underneath her and she was holding Ellie, who was awake but laying against her mother’s chest quietly. Evie leaned her head over and rested it against Jay’s arm. He lifted his arm and wrapped it around her so she could cuddle into his side. 

“I’m going to make dinner.” Mal called out, earning nods from her friends. Technically, Evie was supposed to be the one cooking according to her meal plan, but as long as she ate, Mal wasn’t too crazy about that rule. Tonight’s meal was salmon, green beans, and rice. 

Once the food was ready, the VKs all came to sit together in the dorm kitchen. Jay fed Ellie while everyone else ate, and Evie did eat a good amount of her food. Evie and Carlos cleaned up and then they went back upstairs. 

Mal, Jay, and Carlos entertained Ellie and tried to keep her awake while Evie worked on a couple designs. If Ellie went to bed too early, it would throw her schedule off, so they were trying to keep her awake so she stayed on track. By the time bedtime rolled around, Ellie was crying and rubbing her eyes. 

Evie scooped her up and carried her over to bed. She took her shirt off and laid on her side, letting Ellie breastfeed. 

Mal came over and laid behind her. She stroked her fingers over Evie’s bare back, smiling when she felt her shiver in response. She trailed her touch over to Evie’s ribs; she could still see them, but they weren’t sticking out as badly as they had been. She could tell her girl’s body was healing, and now she just needed her mind to catch up. 

“Therapy is going to be hard tomorrow.” Mal whispered before kissing right below Evie’s ear. “Dr. Bren and Fairy Godmother were talking to me today about you. They’re both really worried, and so am I. I know you’re upset about Dr. Bren, and trust me I’m not happy with her either, but I need you to see past that. You have made so much progress, Evie. It’s time to keep moving forward and get some of this off your mind. You don’t deserve to sit here and torture yourself every day.” 

“I’m scared.” Evie whimpered. 

“There’s nothing to be scared of, baby. I know it’s hard to talk about, but once it’s done, you’re going to feel so much better. When you were asleep in the health center on Sunday, I told Fairy Godmother that I killed Tristan.” 

Evie looked at her in surprise. “Really?” 

“Mmhmm. She could tell that something else had happened on the Isle that I wasn’t opening up about, so I told her. And you know what? I’m glad that I did. Fairy Godmother didn’t judge me at all, or make me feel guilty. She talked to me about what happened, and then she went to see Ben and make sure that they could keep me from getting sent back to the Isle because of it. Ben’s only condition was that I had to tell Dr. Bren, and I told her today.” 

Evie turned her body so that she could make eye contact with her. She reached up and cupped her cheek. “See? I told you earlier that I’m so proud of you, and I meant it. You’re amazing.” 

Mal leaned into her touch. “It was hard to actually say the words, but I feel better now. FG and Ben, and even Dr. Bren, are all here for us. I think we can trust them.” 

Evie nodded. “I’ll talk to them tomorrow. I don’t know if I’ll be able to tell them everything, but I’ll do my best.” 

“Do you want me to come with you?” Mal offered. 

Evie shook her head. “I think I need to do this on my own.”

\-----

When Evie walked into therapy on Wednesday, she held her head high. She was determined to actually talk about the trip to the Isle today. She was going to take after Mal’s lead and be strong. She wanted her daughter to know that she had two amazing, passionate mothers who would always put her first, and to Evie, this was the first step in doing that. Mal had walked her to Fairy Godmother’s office and showered her face with kisses, telling her that she could do this. 

Honestly? Right now, Evie really thought she could. (Plus it’s not like she really had a choice. If she didn’t talk, she knew Mal would be upset and the last thing she wanted was to ruin her relationship.) 

“Hello, Evie.” Dr. Bren greeted. “Before we get started, I want to apologize to you for what I said last week. I have never once thought that there was a possibility that you would hurt your daughter. I know that you are a great mother, and Mal and Fairy Godmother have attested to this fact many times. I’m sorry for implying that you could ever hurt her.” 

“Thank you.” Evie said. She looked at Fairy Godmother. “I’m ready.” 

“What do you mean, dear?”

“Ask me anything. I need to start trying to let go of all of this. I’m tired of nightmares and being anxious and always thinking of worst case scenario. I just want to be happy, for my daughter and for Mal and for the boys and for myself.” 

Fairy Godmother smiled. “That’s a big step.” 

“I know, but it’s time. I can’t promise you I’m going to always want to cooperate, but I’ll do my best.” 

“Do you have a specific place that you want to start the conversation?” Dr. Bren wondered. 

Evie could practically feel her heartbeat in her ears. She didn’t know how to say it. She didn’t want to speak the words or it would make it true, but she knew she had to. 

“You asked me how I was useful to my mother.” Evie told them. “On the Isle, we don’t have money. If you want something, you steal it or you trade. My mother traded my body.” 

Once the words were out, the room was deafeningly silent. Evie could feel her palms starting to sweat and she tried to wipe them on her skirt, but the sweat just kept coming back. 

“How old were you when it started?” Dr. Bren asked. Evie could tell that it had taken her a moment to recover from that; they had just started and FG already had tears in her eyes. 

“I was 13.” Evie confessed. “My mother was obsessed with perfection. She was controlling and materialistic and only cared about the way that I looked. My brother, Harry, was born first. She made a deal with his father while she was pregnant that if he was a boy, Captain Hook would raise him, and if he was a girl, my mother would keep him. She gave him away and got pregnant almost immediately after. The only thing she ever wanted was a daughter, and she had me eleven months after Harry. 

“Very few children on the Isle have a good childhood. Mine wasn’t terrible, in comparison. My mother made sure I had food and I was clothed and clean, which was much more than a lot of other kids got. I told you that when I was 8, she started to obsess over my weight. She would get mad anytime I gained, but I was under no circumstances allowed to be in the triple digits.” 

Evie stood up and untucked her shirt, then pulled her skirt down slightly so they could see the scar on her hipbone. 

“She tried to pour chemicals on me to get rid of the extra weight.” Evie informed them, her voice cold and detached. She couldn’t think about it too hard or she would slide into a memory. “She realized that it only made my skin scar, so she never did it again.

“As far as physical abuse goes, I escaped it for a long time. Way longer than any of the other kids I knew.” She closed her eyes for a second, realizing that she had just admitted that Mal, Jay, and Carlos were abused. 

“We know about your friends.” Dr. Bren chimed. “Mal, Jay, and Carlos have all talked about the physical abuse from their parents.” 

Evie felt a little better that at least she hadn’t exposed them. “Mal and I met when we were six. Our mothers were allies, and my mother did jobs for Maleficent. I never asked, but I think maybe she sold herself when I was younger. When they would meet, Mal and I would play together. We have always been close, and she’s always been really protective over me. We started dating when we were 12, but we knew that our mothers couldn’t find out. I was supposed to be preparing myself for a prince, and Mal was taught that love is weakness and she couldn’t have feelings. 

“When we were 13, my mother caught us together. She had been out and Mal snuck into my bedroom window. She was kissing me and had her hand up my shirt and my mother came into the room.” Evie pinched her thigh to keep herself in the present. “That was the first time she ever slapped me. I, um, I had a hickey on my neck. She made me take my clothes off and then she dragged me by my hair to a closet and shut me inside. She said she didn’t raise a dyke, and that I would stay in that room until I didn’t look like a whore anymore.” 

Evie looked at both of the women, seeing that they looked surprised. A tear slid down Fairy Godmother’s cheek and Evie instantly felt guilty. But then, she shook her head. She couldn’t make excuses. They had asked her to open up, and now they would have to accept what came along with that.

“I was in the closet for seven days. No food, no water, nothing. It was so dark that I couldn’t even tell what time of day it was, and so small that I could barely stretch my legs out. Even now, I don’t like being in the dark. My mother used the closet a lot to punish me when I was younger, and then she had a better idea.

“When she came to find me, I was actually happy. I thought she was going to help me, but then she told me she had a solution to my problems.” Evie bit down on her lip. This was big. She knew she had already basically admitted it, but she didn’t want to say the words out loud. “She said I was going to fuck the gay away. That way, I wouldn’t be whoring myself out for no reason anymore and I could prove that I was useful.” 

Evie didn’t even realize she was crying until Fairy Godmother leaned forward and touched her cheek. The headmistress wiped her tears away. 

“I’m so sorry, Evie. I’m sorry for everything you’ve had to go through.” She whispered. “Can I give you a hug?” 

Right now, Evie wanted nothing more than to be in Mal’s arms. But maybe a hug wouldn’t be so bad. She nodded her head, and Fairy Godmother hugged her. Suddenly, it was like a dam broke as Evie cried into her shoulder. FG stroked her hair and rubbed her back soothingly. Evie felt a hand touch hers and she looked up, seeing that Dr. Bren was smiling reassuringly as she held her hand. 

If Evie wasn’t sure before, she knew now. She was right to come clean to them. Fairy Godmother and Dr. Bren would have her back. 

After she calmed down, Dr. Bren spoke. “We can stop for today.” 

“I’m okay.” Evie said, and she really was. She was sad and hurt and angry all over again, but she wasn’t broken. She could keep going. 

“I’ll let you take the lead then.”

“It happened a lot.” Evie admitted. “At first, it was only when I was in trouble. My mother would lock me in my room and then have men come over and I would fuck them so that she could have whatever they promised to give her. Most of the time, it was clothes, shoes, or jewelry, but sometimes they offered potions or makeup too. At the same time all this was happening, Mal was starting to feel a lot of pressure from Maleficent to prove herself. We were already our own little gang, and Mal decided that everyone needed to know to stay away from me. She would kiss me in the market and hold my hand anytime she could, and I know this is probably too much information, but she would leave hickeys on my neck so that people knew I belonged to her. I know people in Auradon get uncomfortable when we mention belonging to each other, but on the Isle, that was normal. Mal doing this kept me safe from people our age and anyone who was scared of Maleficent. But my mother would hear about it and then she would punish me, so now that I’m older and I think about it, I don’t know if that was really the best strategy. 

“No matter what, I don’t regret Mal. It didn’t matter how many men my mother brought into my room. I still ran back to Mal every single time. Even though I knew I would get caught and get in trouble again, it was worth it to me then.” Evie made eye contact with them. “It’s still worth it.”

“So Ellie…” Fairy Godmother began. 

Evie nodded. “Yeah. I got pregnant by one of those men.” 

“Do you know who it is?” Evie nodded again. “What happened?” 

“I’m not ready to tell that story yet.” The blue haired girl admitted. “One day, but not now.” 

“You are incredible.” Fairy Godmother said. “You are so strong, Evie. Ellie is so lucky to have you as a mother. Everyone is lucky to have you in their lives.” 

Evie shook her head. “I didn’t do anything special. I just did what I had to do to survive.” 

“Evie, do you mind if I talk about something with you?” Dr. Bren asked, and Evie knew right then that whatever she was going to say wouldn’t be easy. “You keep saying you fucked the men your mother brought into your room. Did you ever ask any of them to come in?” 

“No.” Evie responded uncomfortably. 

“Did you give them permission to touch you?” 

“No.” 

“Did you _want_ them to touch you?” 

Evie gave her a dirty look. “I just told you I love Mal.” 

“And I’m assuming you and Mal have had sex before, right?” Evie nodded her head. “Did you give Mal permission?” she nodded. “Did you want her to touch you?” 

“I don’t understand why you’re asking me that. Mal wouldn’t hurt me.” 

“Exactly.” Dr. Bren reached out, placing a hand on top of Evie’s. “Sweetheart, you had sex with Mal. What happened with those men…it wasn’t sex.” 

Evie could feel the blood pumping hard in her ears again as she considered Dr. Bren’s words. How would she know? It’s not like she was there to watch it happen. She didn’t understand why the therapist would even say that. 

But then she remembered all the times Mal had held her afterwards. All the times she had whispered to her that it wasn’t her fault, that this wasn’t cheating, that Evie hadn’t done anything wrong. She had always felt so dirty for letting those men touch her. 

What if Mal and Dr. Bren were right? What if she hadn’t _let_ anyone do anything? 

Maybe it wasn’t her fault. 

Evie let her eyes closed as tears dripped down her cheeks. “You can say it.” 

She couldn’t see her, but she could tell Dr. Bren’s voice was a little choked up. “Evie, you were raped. You did not make the choice to sleep with those men. It’s not your fault.”

Evie let out a sob as she said the words over and over again. 

_“It’s not my fault.”_

_“It’s not my fault.”_

_“It’s not my fault.”_

\-----

“I need good news, Harry. Don’t even come near me if you’re going to tell me something I don’t want to hear.” Uma practically growled. She winced as she felt the needle pierce her arm. 

“Sorry.” Gil said as he continued to stitch up her wound. 

Harry came over and sat across from her. “Quinton’s crew is trying to take over the whole western side of the island.” 

“That’s bullshit!” Uma shouted as she jumped up to stand. She didn’t even flinch when the needle ripped through her skin, causing more blood to pour from the stab wound. “You get our crew and Mal’s crew here, now.” 

Uma grabbed the needle from Gil’s hand and started to stitch up the rest of her cut herself. Her stitches weren’t as pretty as Evie’s, but it would keep her from dying. 

“What are you going to do?” Harry wondered. 

Uma looked at Harry and Gil with a menacing smile. She was done playing games with the despicable prince. If Quinton wanted a fight, he would get it. 

“Suit up, boys. It looks like we’re going to war.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I know I could have probably split this up, but I needed everything to stay together so that the next chapter would work. I hope it wasn't too long or overwhelming! 
> 
> Tell me what you're thinking! EVIE FINALLY OPENED UP! (I hope Evie's last therapy scene was okay, I have very little experience with this topic and I've done a lot of research to try to make it believable, so I hope it came across well! If you have any suggestions or something you thought seemed inaccurate, please tell me and I'll try to fix it; I would hate to get it wrong). 
> 
> What do you think will happen on the Isle now that Uma's crew is about to go to war? 
> 
> Anything you want to see with Evie and Mal, or with Ellie? Their family scenes are so much fun to write! 
> 
> Please leave a comment and tell me what you're thinking!


	39. Thankful

To say that Ben was stressed would be a massive understatement. 

The prince was a little over a month away from his coronation and it seemed like everything on the Isle was falling apart. For the past two weeks, they had been getting constant updates that there was an uprising on the Isle of the Lost. He wasn’t sure what exactly was happening, but he knew that there were two battling groups. 

Ben walked into the kitchen in the dorm, hoping that he would find the VKs. He had been looking all over for them, and after checking both the girls’ room and the boys’ room and seeing they were empty, he figured this was the last place to look. 

He and Audrey had joined the others for dinner a couple times in here, so he was used to seeing them all sitting around the table and talking. He wasn’t expecting to walk into the room and see the four teenagers gathered around the small TV that was mounted to the wall. The Auradon News was turned on. 

_“…and there have been reports that there have been physical altercations between the two groups on the Isle. No one is sure what started this rift, but the uprising has been getting worse each day…”_

Ben looked at the VKs and could sense their discomfort. Mal had an arm around Evie, who was holding Ellie and leaning into Mal’s side. Jay and Carlos were both tense. None of them even bothered to look in his direction. 

“Pretty intense, huh?” he asked as a way of greeting. Mal was the first to look at him, clenching her fists as if she was preparing for a fight. When she realized it was him, Ben could see her relax a little bit. 

“Nothing out of the usual.” Mal said casually. She grabbed Evie’s hand and led her over to the table and guided her into a seat. The boys followed her lead and came over to sit down. 

“What do you think about all that?” Ben questioned. 

“It doesn’t concern us.” Jay answered. 

Ben didn’t believe that for a second. He had talked to them many times about how they wanted to bring more kids over from the Isle. Even if they had horrible experiences there, Ben knew that they wanted to protect other kids from going through the same thing. 

“We heard that there is a power struggle between two different groups. Any ideas on who that might be?”

“Uma.” Carlos stated simply. 

Jay nodded in agreement. “It has to be.” 

Ben had assumed the same thing. After visiting the Isle and seeing how Uma ran things, he knew that one of the groups had to be hers. “Who do you think the other person is?” 

Evie laughed dryly, causing Ben to look at her. He had noticed that she seemed a little better the past two weeks. She looked happier, and Fairy Godmother had told him that she was doing well in her therapy sessions. But right now, she looked like that same lost little girl who came over to Auradon almost three months ago. 

“Is that a real question?” Evie asked. “We all know who it is.” 

Ben studied her expression. “Who?” 

Evie bit her lip. He waited for an answer, but instead, Evie just turned towards Mal. Mal leaned forward and wrapped Evie into her arms, resting her chin on top of blue hair. “Q.” Mal answered for her, causing Evie to whimper. 

Ben’s heart clenched at that little noise. He wondered when it would be enough. Why did it seem like every time the VKs made some progress, something else would happen to knock them back down? 

When he looked back up, the purple haired girl was staring at him. “Why do you care so much about conflict on the Isle?”

“I’ve told you that I want to bring more children over. I can’t do that if the Isle is a war zone.” 

He could see the others exchanging surprised looks. He knew it was going to be difficult to find a solution to whatever Uma and Quinton were fighting about, but he was going to try his best. It was his duty as the king. 

“So, I don’t know if you all celebrate holidays or not, but Thanksgiving is coming up.” Ben changed the subject. 

Carlos frowned. “What’s that?” 

“People gather with their friends and families and have a big feast. It’s all about being thankful and appreciating the things that you have.” 

Mal scoffed. “That explains why we don’t do it on the Isle. It’s impossible to have a feast and there’s nothing to be thankful for.” Ben smiled as Evie looked up at Mal and raised an eyebrow. “Well, _almost_ nothing.” She leaned down and kissed the tip of Evie’s nose, then Ellie’s forehead. Jay tilted his head forward like he wanted Mal to kiss his head too, but she just rolled her eyes and flicked the center of his forehead. 

“Asshole.” Jay muttered. 

“You need to put a dollar in the swear jar when we get back to the room.” Carlos reminded him. 

Ben smiled in amusement. “You started a swear jar?”

“Ellie’s college will be paid for by her first birthday.” Carlos said. 

“Speaking of Ellie, she’s getting sleepy.” Evie informed them. “It’s time for her bath.” 

Ben took that as his cue to leave. “If you would like, you could always join my family for Thanksgiving.” 

“Thank you, Ben.” Evie told him with a smile. She stood up, shifting Ellie in her arms. “M, can you grab her toys?” 

“Got it, babe.” Mal started to gather the baby’s belongings. “See you tomorrow, Benny-boo.” Mal walked out first, followed by Evie and Ellie, then Carlos, and finally Jay. 

Ben waved goodbye and then started walking towards his office, knowing he had a long night ahead of him. 

\-----

Evie wanted to throw up. 

She hated acknowledging that feeling, but it was true. The past two weeks had been difficult. Therapy was kicking her ass, and she came home and practically passed out after every appointment. At the same time, she could tell that it was helping a little bit. She was still trying her best to talk about what she went through on the Isle, but it was hard. 

It didn’t make it any easier that now there was constant talk throughout Auradon about uprising on the Isle. She immediately knew that it was Uma and Quinton, and she felt partially responsible. Quinton had obviously found out that she had been back on the Isle and that she met with Uma and Harry, which was probably half of the reason he was now attacking them. It made it even worse that she knew that if she had followed through on their original deal, Uma and Harry would be in Auradon right now and not having to worry about fighting. Plus there was the added fact that she had decided to keep the it to herself that her mother sold her to Quinton, so she couldn’t even acknowledge all of these feelings when she was in therapy. 

The feelings had been building up inside of her and she had finally reached her tipping point. She did Ellie’s bath routine and her nightly feed, then put her to sleep. Then, she went into the bathroom. 

Evie purposely left the door open. She really, _really_ didn’t want to do this. She had been doing so well and she didn’t want to ruin it now. Eating wasn’t absolutely miserable anymore, and she was finding more and more foods that she liked. She didn’t want to ruin her progress. But she knew herself, and she knew there were times when she couldn’t control her vomiting. She wanted to be close to the toilet just in case.

She kept pacing back and forth through the bathroom, trying to take deep breaths and calm herself down. She looked up and saw that someone was standing in the doorway.

Mal came into the room and shut the door, then lifted herself to sit up on the counter. “How are you doing?” she asked after a moment. 

“Not great.” Evie confessed. She felt her stomach clench, so she shut her eyes to try and help herself breathe through the feeling. 

“Talk to me.” 

“I want to throw up.” Evie blurted out. “But I know that it’s wrong, and I want to be healthy. But my stomach hurts and my heads hurts and I don’t know how to explain it, but I just feel wrong.” 

“Is this because of what’s happening on the Isle?” 

“Mmhmm.” Evie looked up at her girlfriend. “This is my fault.” 

Mal tilted her head to the side. “What do you mean?” 

“I made a promise to Uma and Harry, and then I broke it. We were supposed to bring them to Auradon with us. If they were here, then they wouldn’t be fighting with Quinton.” She felt chills run down her spine when she said his name. He was the person she hated most in this entire world. 

“E, that’s not on you.” 

“Yes it is! Ben told me that if I had just said something to him, he would have found a way to make it work! I could have told him that I made a promise to bring Uma and Harry, and he would have let them come.” 

“There are two things wrong with that. Number one, at that time, we didn’t know if we could trust Ben or not. We were already taking a chance by asking him to bring Ellie over, and I’m sorry, but I would pick Ellie over Uma and Harry any day. We had no way of knowing that he would offer that, and just because he offered, it doesn’t mean that he would have actually been allowed to do it. Number two, Uma and Harry need to be on the Isle. I truly hope that they’re safe right now and that they can handle what’s going on with Quinton. But imagine if they weren’t there and he attacked. All of the innocent kids would be caught in the crossfire. I might not get along with Uma, but I know she cares about the kids. She won’t let them get hurt.” 

“But it’s not fair.” Evie said sadly. She felt her stomach lurch again and she went over towards the toilet. 

“Hey.” Mal slid off the counter and came over to stand next to her. She put her hand on Evie’s back. “Breathe, baby. You’ve got this.” 

Evie closed her eyes and listened to Mal’s voice. After a moment, the feeling passed. She went back to her pacing. 

“We’re going to find a way to bring Uma, Harry, and all the others over.” Mal promised. 

The blue haired girl turned to face her. “I won’t let Q hurt another person the way he hurt me.” Evie truly meant that. No matter what she had to do, she was going to stop him. He would never have the chance to destroy another person the way he destroyed her. 

“You’re not destroyed.” Mal said. Evie hadn’t realized she spoke out loud. “He hurt you in ways that no person should ever be hurt. But you’re so strong, my love. Three months ago, you would have come in here and made yourself throw up like it was no big deal. I know you don’t feel great right now, but I can see you fighting it. I know you want to feel better.” She held a hand out and Evie reluctantly went over to her. Mal held both of her hands and looked right into her eyes. “We’re going to figure this out. Do you trust me?” 

“Always.” Evie answered, no hesitation in her voice. 

“We can do this. But you’re not going to be helpful to anyone if you’re struggling.” Mal pulled her into a hug. “The only person you’re going to hurt if you throw up is yourself. I can see how hard you’re fighting this battle by the look on your face. I know you can’t always control it. But baby, you need to calm down. If you need a reason not to throw up, then walk into the bedroom and look at that little girl who is depending on you. Look at Jay and Carlos who would walk through fire for you.” She tilted her head down so they were making eye contact. “Look at me, and know that I can’t do this without you.” She leaned out of the way so Evie could see herself in the mirror. “Look at your reflection. You have put so much work into getting better. Is it really worth it to ruin that?” 

“No.” Evie whispered. She sighed and looked at her girlfriend. She could tell that Mal was genuinely scared that she might throw up. “Can we go into the room?” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal slid off the counter and grabbed Evie’s hand. She led her out of the bathroom and back to their bedroom. The boys were watching TV and didn’t even bother to glance in their direction when they came out. 

Mal sat down on their bed and then pulled Evie onto her lap so she was straddling her. 

“Get comfortable. Relax.” Mal whispered. 

Evie laid her head on Mal’s chest and kept both arms wrapped tightly around her. Mal’s right arm was locked around her waist, and her left hand was gently stroking her cheek. 

Evie didn’t fight sleep this time. She let her eyes close while she just focused on the soft, almost tickling motion of Mal’s fingertips on her face. She calmed her breathing and could feel sleepiness creeping in. 

Three months ago, Evie would have shoved her fingers down her throat and thrown up without hesitation, then went back to her friends like it was normal. 

Two months ago, Evie would have snuck off to throw up, then done everything she could to hide it. 

One month ago, Evie would have thrown up, but she would have come clean about it and felt immensely guilty afterwards. 

But now? Evie just fell asleep in Mal’s arms and let her girlfriend wash her worries away. 

\-----

It was amazing to Carlos how much everything had changed. 

On the Isle, they were the most powerful crew, but that didn’t necessarily mean that things were better. Because their parents were the most powerful, they were expected to follow in their footsteps. 

Mal was mentally abused constantly by her mother, with some added physical abuse when she was really feeling angry. Jay was whipped and beaten by his father almost daily because no matter what he stole, it was never enough. Evie was mentally and emotionally abused and sold to whoever could offer something to her mother. And Carlos had to deal with Cruella, who very obviously had a mental illness and wasn’t in her right mind anymore. He was beaten even more than Jay. 

For some reason, it suddenly occurred to him that it had been almost three months since the last time someone had hit him, or Jay and Mal. Evie’s situation wasn’t as easy because of the obvious issues she had been dealing with from her mother’s abuse, but even she was getting better (not to say that the other three hadn’t also been dealing with some trauma- they had their share of nightmares and issues too, but they weren’t as visible). Now they had Ellie, and things were starting to look up.

“Hey Carlos, can you grab that bag at the very end, please?” Evie asked as she pushed her rack of clothing items down the hallway. Carlos had volunteered to go with her to deliver everyone’s Thanksgiving outfits, while Mal and Jay had decided to stay back in the girls’ dorm with Ellie. 

“Got it.” Carlos grabbed the bag she was referring to and handed it over. 

He watched as Evie knocked on the door. She was so confident; Carlos would never have the courage to talk to all of these random strangers and make something for them. But Evie did it effortlessly and without a complaint, even on days where she was clearly exhausted from school and taking care of Ellie. 

“Alright, we need to go to the next floor up.” Evie said as she glanced at her clipboard. 

Carlos grabbed one end of the rack and helped her push it towards the elevator. The VKs weren’t fans of being trapped in small spaces, but they didn’t really have any other choice unless they wanted to carry the clothes rack up and down the stairs. 

“I don’t get what the big deal is.” Carlos confessed. “Why do people need to get dressed up just to eat food?” 

Evie shrugged. “I don’t know, but I’m happy they do. The money from these outfits is going to be enough to make all of us new warmer clothes, plus you and Mal need new shoes.” 

Carlos was in awe at Evie’s selflessness. She may have her issues, but she held their group together. Though she was dealing with her own personal problems, taking care of a baby, trying to keep her grades up, and working on her relationship with Mal, she still made time to sew clothes for everyone else to pay for anything her friends’ needed. 

“You’re amazing, you know that?” Carlos said.

Evie shook her head. “I just made a couple dresses.” 

“It’s more than that. You take care of all of us, and you do such a good job.” He sighed. “I’m sorry you have to spend all your money on everyone else.” 

“I’m sorry you have to miss school to take care of Ellie.” Evie replied. 

Carlos frowned. “It’s not a problem, Eves. You know I don’t care.” 

She smiled. “Exactly, and I don’t care to get you guys what you need. You guys are my family. Whatever I have is yours.” 

The elevator doors opened and Carlos decided to change the subject- Evie had enough mushy conversations with Mal to last a lifetime, so he was pretty sure she didn’t need one with him too. 

“Who’s next?”

“Lonnie and Jane.” 

Carlos liked Lonnie. She was kind and never made the VKs feel like they had anything to be ashamed of. But at the same time, he was a little weary of the girl. She was bold and loud and opinionated, and she had no concept of personal boundaries. He didn’t know Jane as well, but she seemed nice enough. He felt bad for her because of how painfully shy she could be. 

“Which bag?”

“The two on the left.” Evie knocked on the door. 

“Hi!” Lonnie answered cheerily. “Jane’s at the library, but she gave me the money to give to you. You can come in if you want!” 

She moved aside, so Evie pulled the rack into the room. Carlos took the two off that belonged to the girls and Evie took them from his hands. 

“This one is for you.” Evie passed it over. “And here is Jane’s.” 

“I can’t wait to see it!” Lonnie set Jane’s bag on one of the beds, then came over and unzipped her own. Carlos couldn’t help but smile at the outfit in the bag; Evie always did such a good job at capturing other people’s style, but also adding in a little bit of her. “Oh my God, Evie! It’s perfect!” she jumped forward, wrapping her arms around Evie’s neck. Carlos could see that Lonnie had startled her a bit, but Evie recovered quickly and hugged back. 

“Can I ask you something?” Evie questioned. 

“Yeah, of course.” Lonnie agreed. 

“What’s the big deal about Thanksgiving?” 

“You guys don’t have Thanksgiving on the Isle?” Carlos and Evie both shook their heads. “It’s when people talk about things they are thankful for. A lot of people get together with their whole families and spend the day together, which is why people usually dress up a little nicer. Families have different traditions. My parents are originally from China, and Chinese people don’t always celebrate Thanksgiving. But now that my family lives in Auradon, we’ve adopted some of the traditions here, like the big Thanksgiving feast.” 

Carlos glanced at Evie to gage her reaction. He knew that having a feast was probably the last thing she was interested in. She might be improving, but nine times out of ten she couldn’t even finish an entire plate of food. The last thing she needed was to be surrounded by all different kinds of food. 

“What kind of food do you have?” Evie asked, which surprised Carlos. He didn’t expect her to even comment on something that had to do with eating. 

“A traditional Thanksgiving meal is usually turkey, mashed potatoes, gravy, stuffing, different vegetables like corn or green beans…” 

As Lonnie continued to list foods, Carlos glanced at Evie. He knew the basic foods she was describing, but there were some he had never heard of and he was sure Evie felt the same. But she did actually seem to be listening. 

“What about your family?” Evie questioned, interrupting Carlos’s thoughts. “Do you eat the traditional meal?” 

“Some of it. We substitute some different things.” Lonnie started to list more foods that were more traditional to her culture, and Carlos definitely didn’t know what those were. “…but the Tourney game is really fun too.” 

“What Tourney game?” Carlos wondered as he tuned back in. 

Lonnie looked at him with a smirk. “You’re on the team, didn’t you realize that there’s a game?” 

Evie laughed. “Carlos is good at a lot of things, but paying attention during conversations and big announcements isn’t one of them.” She joked before ruffling his hair. Carlos dodged out of the way and glared at her. “Mal and Jay are terrible at remembering stuff like that too. The only reason any of them make it to games is because they’re usually every Saturday.” 

“And because Evie is the best at keeping track of our schedules, and she reminds us when we need to do something.” He chimed in. 

“It’s a tradition in Auradon that on Thanksgiving morning, there is a big Tourney game at Auradon Prep. All the parents and family members fill up the stands and watch the game, and then they take their kids home for the weekend afterwards.” Lonnie explained. 

Carlos looked at Evie and made eye contact. He could tell she was thinking the same thing- would they have to find somewhere else to stay for the weekend? 

“The dorms stay open.” Lonnie said after a moment. “There’s always a few people who stay behind.” 

Carlos let out a sigh of relief. They were no strangers to having to adapt to situations and keep themselves safe, but he didn’t like the idea of searching for a place to stay when they had Ellie to think about. 

Evie turned back towards her clothes rack. “Well we better get going, we have a few more deliveries to make. I’m glad you like your outfit, Lonnie.” 

“Thank you so much!” Lonnie handed her the payment for both herself and Jane, and then Carlos pulled the rack out into the hallway with Evie right behind him. 

“So what are you thinking about Thanksgiving?” Carlos asked as they walked down the hall towards her next customer. 

Evie turned towards him. “I don’t know. You know I’m not a huge fan of big meals, but I like the idea of being thankful. I just want Ellie’s life to be different than ours. I want her to have traditions and holidays, like everyone who grew up in Auradon. I want that for _all _of the Isle kids.”__

__Carlos nodded in understanding. “Then we’ll have to think of some of our own, won’t we?”_ _

__Evie beamed in pride, then went to knock on the door. Carlos promised himself right then that he would find a way to make Thanksgiving special. Even if they weren’t going to celebrate it the way most Auradon people did, they could come up with their own thing._ _

__If he could think of the thing he was most thankful for, it would be safety. Even with how different Auradon was, he felt safe. He didn’t have to look over his shoulder, or worry about where his next meal was coming from, or fight people twice his size just to have basic necessities. He didn’t have to wonder if Mal and Jay would make it home after being hurt by their parents, or if Evie’s mother would finally snap and kill her._ _

__Obviously the next thing was his family. Jay, Evie, Mal, and Ellie were the most important people in his life, and he would do anything for them with zero hesitation. These past couple months had made it even clearer that the love he had for them was much stronger than he had thought._ _

__He was thankful that Evie was improving, and that she was alive and healthy. There were times on the Isle where he honestly didn’t think she would make it. Now, for the first time in a long time, he could actually see that the girl who was like an older sister to him was happy._ _

__He was thankful that Mal was away from her mother’s influence. He knew that she wasn’t as bad as she pretended to be from the moment he met her. If there was one thing he knew, it was that Mal was a good person. Carlos was just so happy that she actually got to be that person now that they were in Auradon._ _

__And Jay…Carlos didn’t even know what to say about him. He had always been great friends with Jay; the four of them were all close, but when the girls went off into their own little world, it usually meant that Carlos and Jay would entertain each other._ _

__He didn’t know when he first noticed the change with Jay, but something was different. With everything going on with Evie, the girls had been so preoccupied lately, so usually Carlos only really had Jay. The older boy had always been extremely overprotective of all of them, but there were times at Tourney practice where someone would hit Carlos and Jay would get way more upset than he would have if it was Mal who was hit. Jay would walk him to classes and make stupid jokes just so he would laugh, and when Carlos woke up from nightmares, it was Jay by his side._ _

__Carlos would definitely say that the change with Jay was one of the best things that happened in Auradon._ _

__When they finished passing out all of Evie’s designs, the two of them went back to the girls’ dorm. Jay and Mal were on the couch playing video games and Ellie was on the floor, content with her toys. As soon as they heard the door shut, they both whipped around as if they were ready to attack._ _

__“We’re back.” Evie greeted. She grabbed onto Carlos’s shoulder with one of her hands so she could take her heels off with the other._ _

__“Mama!” Ellie called out. She immediately dropped her toys and reached her hands out towards her mother._ _

__“It’s okay, my love.” Evie cooed as she went over to her and picked her up. “Was Mommy ignoring you so she could play video games?”_ _

__“She was perfectly fine before you walked in!” Mal protested. Evie went to walk past her, but Mal grabbed her arm and stopped her. She pulled her close and pressed a kiss against her lips. “Hi.”_ _

__“Hi.” Evie repeated. Mal leaned in and captured her lips again. Carlos glanced over at Jay, who was already staring at him. He pretended to gag, which made Carlos laugh and Mal reach out and smack his head._ _

__“I swear, I can’t wait for Jay to find someone.” Mal complained. “You’re annoying as fuck.”_ _

__Carlos could feel someone staring at him and he looked up, seeing that it was still Jay. He felt a weird feeling in his stomach. Why was Jay staring at him like that?_ _

__“Swear jar.” Jay said, finally breaking eye contact._ _

__Mal rolled her eyes, but held out a dollar, which Jay snatched and put into the jar. Carlos was truly concerned that they would all go broke before Ellie’s first birthday._ _

__“So we talked to Lonnie about Thanksgiving.” Evie stated as she walked around the couch so she could sit on Mal’s lap. Carlos went over to join them, taking a seat on the chair._ _

__“And…?” Mal asked, her fingers stroking through Evie’s hair. She was staring up at her as if she was mesmerized, and Carlos could tell she wasn’t really listening._ _

__“It sounds interesting.” Evie explained. “It’s all about being thankful, and I would say that we all have a lot to be thankful for right now. There’s a big Tourney game on Thanksgiving morning that all the families come to, and then they take their kids home for the weekend to celebrate. They have a big dinner and spend time together.”_ _

__Jay snorted. “You’ve changed, E. Who would have ever thought you would be thinking about a holiday with food involved?”_ _

__Mal gave him a dirty look as she reached into her pocket. “How about you keep your fucking comments to yourself?” she practically spat as she tossed a dollar at him. Jay cackled as he put the second dollar into the swear jar. “I’m so proud of you, baby.”_ _

__Evie bit her lip. “I don’t know if I really like the food part of it, but I like the idea of celebrating something. I want Ellie to have that.”_ _

__“Then she will.” Mal said as if it was simple, and to her, it probably was. Carlos knew she would go to the ends of the Earth to make Evie and Ellie happy._ _

__As Carlos looked at Jay, he realized he would do the same for him._ _

__\-----_ _

__When Mal woke up on Thursday morning, there was already light coming through the window. She would definitely say the best part of this whole holiday thing was that they didn’t have to go to school for a couple of days._ _

__She immediately looked over to where her girlfriend was laying. She was surprised to see Evie already staring up at her with her big, brown eyes. It was pretty rare for Evie to wake up first, but Mal wasn’t completely shocked. Evie had therapy yesterday, and when she walked in the door, she practically collapsed into Mal’s arms. After a couple minutes of stroking her hair and kissing her face, Evie had fallen asleep. She had barely even opened her eyes long enough for Ellie to latch onto her breast for her bedtime feed._ _

__“Morning.” Evie whispered._ _

__“Good morning.” Mal leaned over and kissed her soft, pink lips. She could never get enough of her._ _

__“Happy Thanksgiving.”_ _

__“You too, baby.” Mal kissed her again. She didn’t have particularly strong feelings about this whole holiday thing, but she understood where Evie was coming from with making new experiences for Ellie. “You know what I’m most thankful for?”_ _

__“What?” Evie wondered._ _

__“You.” Mal leaned over her so she could kiss her again from a more comfortable angle. Evie instantly parted her lips, allowing Mal to take control. She took advantage of the situation and could feel herself getting lost in the blue haired girl._ _

__Before they could take things any further, Mal heard a cry from across the room. She separated from Evie, breathing heavily as he hauled herself out of bed and went over to Ellie’s crib._ _

__“Hi, Ellie Belly.” Mal greeted. She picked her up and cuddled the baby close to her chest. She carried her over to the changing table and gave her a fresh diaper. Mal walked over to their bed, where Evie was already sitting up and had removed her shirt. Mal passed Ellie to her and Evie quickly got her situated._ _

__“Hey sweet girl.” She whispered as she stroked Ellie’s cheek. “Happy Thanksgiving.” She looked up at Mal. “I feel the same.”_ _

__Mal raised an eyebrow in confusion. “Hmmm?”_ _

__“I’m most thankful for you, and our baby of course.”_ _

__“We could never forget her.” Mal agreed. She reached out and pulled Evie’s body back so she could lean against her chest while she fed Ellie. “What time is the game again?”_ _

__“10am.” Evie answered. Mal glanced at the clock. It was 8 now, so they would need to start getting ready pretty soon. “Do you wanna get the boys up?”_ _

__“It would be my pleasure.” Mal said deviously. She grabbed her pillow, ignoring Evie’s protests as she went over to the other bed. The boys hadn’t slept in their own room since Ellie came to Auradon, and she knew it was only a matter of time before Fairy Godmother or Ben noticed._ _

__Mal was surprised to see Jay’s arm wrapped around Carlos. None of them were strangers to having to share a bed or cuddling for warmth. Back in their hideout, they had only had one bed for a while, and the four of them would all pile into it and lay with their limbs intertwined so they could stay warm. But she hadn’t ever really seen the boys cuddle since then._ _

__She immediately brought her pillow up and smacked it down right across Jay’s face. He immediately shot into a sitting position and glared once he realized what happened._ _

__“You’re an asshole.” He told her in irritation before laying back down and pulling the blankets over his head._ _

__“And you owe a dollar to the swear jar.” She teased. “The game is in two hours.”_ _

__Mal figured her work was done when she saw Carlos sit up, knowing that the younger boy wouldn’t let Jay go back to sleep. She went back over to her bed and sat next to her girls._ _

__“You just had to be annoying, didn’t you?” Evie questioned._ _

__“Yep.” Mal proudly stated. She looked at Evie’s face and could see the exhaustion clearly in her features. “How are you doing?”_ _

__“I’m fine.” Evie immediately said._ _

__“C’mere.” Mal laid down and held out her arms. Evie shuffled her position so that she could lay with her back against Mal’s chest, but also feed Ellie at the same time. Mal wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her as close as she could. “How was therapy yesterday?”_ _

__“It was hard.” Evie confessed. “It’s always hard, but I have to do it. I promise I’m okay, M.”_ _

__“You just look so tired.” Mal kissed the back of her neck._ _

__“I’m okay.” She repeated._ _

__Mal hugged her closer, just breathing in the scent that was uniquely Evie. She knew that Evie needed to open up in therapy, but it sucked that she was always so drained afterwards. She promised herself that she would spend extra time today showering her girl in love and attention._ _

__Pretty soon after that, the four teenagers started to get ready for the Tourney game. Jay got breakfast for everyone, and they ate while Mal multitasked and fed Ellie her cereal. Afterwards, Evie took Ellie and got her dressed while Mal and the boys got their uniforms and equipment together._ _

__Mal was sitting on the ground and zipping up her bag when Evie came over and passed Ellie to her. She took her without hesitation, knowing that her girlfriend still needed to get ready. She noticed that Ellie wasn’t in her tiny jersey._ _

__“Sorry, babe. It’s going to be cold and I wanted to make sure she was layered up.” Evie explained._ _

__“It’s okay. You don’t have to wear yours today either, you know. I would rather you be warm.”_ _

__“Thank you.” Evie gave her a quick kiss, then disappeared into the bathroom._ _

__Mal spent the next half hour laying on the floor with Ellie and encouraging her to crawl. She moved her toy across the blanket and the baby raised up on all fours, but she just teetered back and forth for a few seconds before falling on her stomach and doing an army crawl._ _

__“Will you get her shoes on, please?” Evie asked as she came back into the room. She still wasn’t dressed, but her makeup was done and her hair was down and curly. She was sticking an earring into her ear, but Mal couldn’t resist herself. She stood up, shifting Ellie to her hip, and leaned in to kiss her girlfriend._ _

__“You’re beautiful.” She whispered against her lips before giving her another kiss. When she pulled back, she noticed Evie was blushing. “Look at Mama.” She said to Ellie. “Doesn’t she look so pretty?”_ _

__“Mama.” Ellie said._ _

__“Yep, Mama is gorgeous.” Mal kissed Evie again, then went to get Ellie’s little boots. She pulled them onto her feet and made sure her diaper was still clean. “Where’s your hat, El?”_ _

__“On the couch.” Evie stated. “Her coat is on my desk.”_ _

__Mal turned to study her girlfriend. Unfortunately, Evie wasn’t wearing her jersey today, but she still looked amazing in her fluffy blue sweater and thick black leggings. Mal thought there was a chance that she might actually stay warm today. Evie always claimed she wasn’t cold, but by the end of every Tourney practice or game, her cheeks were red, her teeth were chattering, and she would lean into Mal for the extra heat._ _

__The boys, who had been dressed and ready for forever now, got up when they saw that Evie was finished. The blue haired girl slid on her own coat and then started to pack up Ellie’s diaper bag with things to keep her occupied during the game. Once they were ready, the five of them left the dorm room. Mal carried Ellie in her right arm and held Evie’s hand with her left._ _

__For once, they were actually a couple minutes early. The stands were already packed because of all the family members. Mal could already feel the protectiveness creeping in at the idea of Evie having to sit by some asshole royal who would treat her badly._ _

__For the first time, it occurred to her that many of these people weren’t aware that Evie was a mother. This would be the first time a lot of the royals had seen the VKs in person. What if they judged Evie because of Ellie?_ _

__“Hey.” Before Mal could spiral too far into her thoughts, she was interrupted by Ben’s voice. The prince smiled at each of them. “Happy Thanksgiving.”_ _

__“Happy Thanksgiving.” They all repeated, though only Evie and Jay sounded genuine._ _

__“Do you all have plans for today?”_ _

__“We’re going to just hang out in the dorm.” Mal responded._ _

__Ben frowned. “Really?”_ _

__“What else would we be doing? It’s not like we have family to visit.”_ _

__Ben looked heartbroken, and it took everything in Mal not to roll her eyes. She liked Ben, but he was way too sensitive._ _

__“I’m so sorry. I didn’t even think about that.” He looked at them apologetically. “Why don’t you join my family at the castle? We are planning to play games, and my mother makes the best apple pie. It’s going to be fun.”_ _

__Mal didn’t even have to look at her friends to know their reactions. There was no way in hell that they would be spending time with King Adam._ _

__“Thank you for the invitation, but we’re okay.” Evie said diplomatically. If it was Mal, she would have told him that his dad could fuck off, so she was kind of grateful that her girlfriend had stepped in. “We just want to do something small with Ellie.”_ _

__“That’s understandable.” Ben agreed. “If you need anything, just let me know, okay? I can have it delivered to your dorm.”_ _

__“Thank you, Ben.” Evie smiled. Someone called out to the prince and he said his goodbyes and then walked away. “Ben really is so innocent, isn’t he?”_ _

__“Who the fuck would want to spend a day with his asshole of a dad?” Jay chimed in._ _

__“That’s two dollars to the swear jar.” Evie reminded him._ _

__Jay rolled his eyes. “Fuck the swear jar.” Evie and Carlos both broke out into laughter, which made Mal smile. Ellie started to laugh once she heard everyone else laughing._ _

__“We better go.” Carlos said. Mal glanced over and could see their team was starting to gather._ _

__“You guys go ahead. I’m going to help E find a seat.” She passed her bag to Jay, who took it without a word. She knew that he was just as overprotective as her and would feel better if he knew Evie was safe in the large crowd of people._ _

__“I’m fine, M. I can find a seat on my own.” Evie tried to tell her._ _

__“Listen to me. There are a lot of people here, way more than we’re used to. I’m sure a lot of them don’t know about Ellie yet.” Evie bit down on her lip and Mal could tell that she hadn’t considered that. “Hey, don’t do that.” She ran her thumb across Evie’s bottom lip to free it from her teeth. “If anyone is bothering you, just go back to the dorm, okay?”_ _

__“Okay.”_ _

__Mal walked her over to the bleachers. She scanned the area, trying to find a good seat that would have an easy exit._ _

__“Hello, children.” Her thoughts were interrupted when Fairy Godmother walked over. “Mal, are you excited for the game?”_ _

__“Sure.” The purple haired girl answered._ _

__“Evie, why don’t you and Ellie come sit with Jane and me? We’re in the second row.” FG suggested._ _

__Evie looked over at her and Mal nodded once. The second row would let her get out quickly if she needed to, and she would feel much better knowing that FG was there to watch over her girls. “Okay. Thank you.”_ _

__“Of course.” FG said with a smile._ _

__Mal kissed Ellie’s forehead, then gave Evie a quick kiss. “See you soon.”_ _

__“Good luck.” Evie smiled. She shivered slightly and Mal cursed internally; it seemed like no matter how many layers of clothes she had on, it was never enough for her underweight girlfriend. “Score some points for us.”_ _

__“I will.” Mal promised. She shrugged her coat off and passed it to Evie. “Put that on.”_ _

__“Thank you.” Evie said with a sheepish smile._ _

__“Mmhmm.” Mal gave her one more quick kiss, then jogged onto the field. She went over to the sidelines where her team was meeting. She turned towards the stands and looked around until she spotted Evie, Ellie, Jane, and FG._ _

__Today, they were playing the Olympus Tourney team. The past couple days, everyone had been talking about how good they were. Now that Mal could see them, she noticed that a lot of them were taller and more muscular than some of the other teams they had played. She could tell just from appearances alone that this wouldn’t be an easy win._ _

__“Jay, Ben, and Mal, take the front line.” Coach called out. Mal refused to be scared of this other team, so she just nodded and got into position. With them closer up, she felt a little more dread start to creep in. The person who would be blocking her was at least double her weight._ _

__But Mal had survived much worse. These boys had never had to fight for food or sleep outside because they weren’t evil enough or kill people who hurt their girlfriend. She could take them._ _

__It was less than two minutes into the game when she hit the ground for the first time. She instantly jumped up and looked towards the crowd, her eyes zeroing in on her girlfriend. She knew Evie was incredibly anxious during Tourney games, so she gave her a quick thumbs up to let her know that she was okay. She ran towards the ball and attempted a block, but the guy was a brick wall. They ran past everyone on Auradon’s team and scored the first point of the game._ _

__“You good?” Jay asked as they jogged back to their spots._ _

__“Yeah.”_ _

__The second time Mal was hit, she didn’t even have the ball. Jay was running down the field with the ball in his possession and Mal was hit straight on, sending her flying. She waited for one of the referees to call a penalty, but it never happened. She pulled herself up to her feet and got back into the game._ _

__The third hit came from behind during the second half of the game. Olympus was winning with four points, while Auradon had only scored once. Ben had the ball and sent it soaring towards her. Mal caught it effortlessly and started to run when suddenly, she felt someone slam into her back. She fell forward, using her hands to break her fall. No penalty was called and the boy on the other team grabbed the ball and started to run._ _

__“Seriously!?” she heard Jay shout towards the ref, but the man completely ignored him._ _

__Mal gritted her teeth and got up. She looked over to Evie and as soon as her eyes landed on her girlfriend, she was slammed into from the side._ _

__\-----_ _

__As soon as Mal went down, Evie knew that she was hurt. The entire game had been pretty rough, and Mal, Jay, and Ben were taking a lot of hits (luckily Carlos had only gone out for a few minutes towards the end of the first half and didn’t have any contact with the other team)._ _

__To say Evie was pissed was an understatement. Olympus had been doing dirty hits this entire game and the referees hadn’t called any of them. The fact that Mal wasn’t even near the ball and someone had still slammed into her had Evie seeing red._ _

__The blue haired girl was on her feet before she could even comprehend what she was doing. All she could think was that Mal was still on the ground. She needed to get to Mal._ _

__Then, Evie was moving. She weaved her way out of her row with Ellie on her hip and charged towards the field._ _

__“Evie!” she turned, seeing Audrey coming towards her. She didn’t have time for this. She passed Ellie to her, then turned to the field again. Evie took off running across the field to where Coach, Jay, and Ben were now kneeling around Mal._ _

__Mal still wasn’t up. She needed to get there._ _

__“Baby?” Evie sank down onto her knees next to Jay. “Mal, can you hear me? Open your eyes for me.”_ _

__“Everyone needs to back up.” One of the referees said._ _

__Evie didn’t move. They would have to drag her away if they needed her to move. She took Mal’s helmet off and smoothed all of her hair out of her face. “Come on, M.”_ _

__Mal’s eyes fluttered open. Evie could tell she was in pain, though she knew her stubborn girlfriend would never admit it._ _

__Right as Mal opened her eyes, the guy who slammed into her walked over. “Maybe they should let bitches on the team if they can’t take the hits.” He sneered._ _

__Evie was on her feet within seconds. “You wanna say that again?” she pounced on him, grabbing his helmet and ripping it off his head. She could feel Jay standing next to her, but he didn’t move to stop her. The refs started to blow their whistles as both teams started to stare each other down._ _

__The guy grabbed Evie’s arm to stop her from hitting him. Evie used her entire body weight to slam against him. He clearly wasn’t expecting that and fell to the ground. Evie wasn’t even sure how she had been strong enough to do it, but as he was falling, he grabbed her arm and pulled her down with him. She was just about to punch him when she felt an arm against her waist and suddenly she was being lifted into the air._ _

__“Evie, stop!” She recognized Ben’s voice in her angry haze._ _

__“It’s pathetic that you felt so threatened by her that you had to hit her when she wasn’t even close to the ball!” Evie shouted at the guy who was still on the ground. “You’re a fucking coward for that!” she tried to move out of Ben’s grasp so she could go towards him again._ _

__“E, take a breath.” Carlos interrupted, coming to stand in front of her. “Mal needs you right now.”_ _

__Evie immediately turned around. Mal was sitting up now, though she was holding her head with one of her hands. Evie sank down on her knees next to her._ _

__“Are you okay?”_ _

__“I’m fine.” Mal promised. She reached out and grabbed Evie’s hand and pressed a kiss against the top of it._ _

__“I’ll fucking kill him.” Evie threatened._ _

__“I’m okay, baby.” Mal pulled her into a hug._ _

__After a second, Evie felt a hand on her shoulder. “Evie, dear, go get Gabriella.” Fairy Godmother said. “We’re going to have to take Mal to the health center so we can make sure she doesn’t have a concussion.”_ _

__“I don’t need to go. I’m okay.” Mal tried to tell her._ _

__“You’re going.” Evie interrupted, leaving no room for argument._ _

__“We’re going too.” Carlos stated, earning a nod from Jay._ _

__“Boys, you should stay.” FG told them. “We’ll call you as soon as we hear anything.”_ _

__“The team is going to need you since I won’t be here to score.” Mal joked._ _

__Evie went over to where Audrey was standing. “Thank you.” She told the princess before reaching out for her daughter. She didn’t say another word before running back over to her girlfriend, who was talking to a couple of people in uniforms. When she got closer, Evie could see that there was an ambulance in the parking lot near the field._ _

__Before Evie could get to Mal, Fairy Godmother stepped in front of her. “Stop for a second and take a few deep breaths. Mal is okay. We’re going to take her to the health center in the ambulance. One of the paramedics is going to carry her over. You, me, and Ellie will ride with her, okay?”_ _

__Evie nodded. “Okay.”_ _

__The paramedic lifted Mal up, and Evie knew she was probably close to snapping. Mal hated to show any kind of weakness, and being carried off of the Tourney field in front of bleachers filled with royals was probably one of the most mortifying things that could happen._ _

__Mal was put on a stretcher in the ambulance and then Evie climbed in. She sat next to her girlfriend’s head and reached out to grab one of her hands._ _

__“Breathe, Princess.” Mal said._ _

__“This isn’t about me.”_ _

__“You look like you’re going to throw up or pass out. I promise you that I’m okay. You need to breathe.”_ _

__“You weren’t okay.” Evie told her quietly. “You were on the ground and I didn’t know what to do. I don’t know how I would handle it if I lost you.”_ _

__“You’re not losing me.” Mal cupped her cheek and pulled her forward so she could give her a quick kiss._ _

__The rest of the ride to the health center was pretty quiet. Once they got there, the paramedics brought Mal inside and they got her set up in a room. Evie had to wait in the waiting room with Ellie and FG until she was settled, and then they let her go back. She left her daughter in the headmistress’s capable hands while she stayed by Mal’s side, just like Mal had always done for her._ _

__“Mal, you have a mild concussion.” Dr. Rhodes explained after her exam. “You’re probably going to have a headache for a couple days, but you should make a full recovery.”_ _

__“What do I need to watch for?” Evie questioned._ _

__“Signs that it could be something more serious would be vomiting, loss of consciousness, fluid or blood coming out of her nose or ears, or seizures, but I think that’s very unlikely.” Dr. Rhodes informed her. “The concussion is very mild and there is no sign that she has any type of internal damage.”_ _

__“What should she avoid?”_ _

__“Mal, you might be a little sensitive to light and sound. I would recommend not spending too much time on your phone or watching TV for the next few days so you have time to recover.”_ _

__Evie nodded. “She won’t be allowed near any of it.”_ _

__“E, I’m fine.” Mal said in exasperation._ _

__Dr. Rhodes smiled at them. “You can take Ibuprofen as long as you follow the directions on the label. I’ll grab a bottle for you.” She excused herself from the room._ _

__Evie started to pace now that they were alone. “Maybe Carlos and Jay could keep Ellie in their room for a few days. We can close the curtains so the light won’t come in, and I’ll make sure no one comes to bother you.” When Evie looked at her, she was surprised to see that Mal was smiling. “What?”_ _

__“You’re very cute when you’re being overprotective.” Mal commented._ _

__Fairy Godmother came in with Ellie a moment later. Evie was still pacing, running through all the different scenarios in her mind. What if Mal got worse? What if…_ _

__“Princess, stop pacing.” Mal interrupted her thoughts. “Come sit.”_ _

__Evie sighed, but did as she said. She took a seat in the chair next to her bed. Mal held both of her cheeks and leaned their foreheads together. “I’m okay. You can breathe now.” She grabbed one of Evie’s hands and put it on her chest right over her heart, letting Evie feel her steady heartbeat. “I promise I’m alright. I’m still here.”_ _

__Evie closed her eyes as she focused on the feeling of Mal’s heartbeat underneath her hand. “You’re still here.” She whispered. She pulled her into a tight hug._ _

__She could feel Mal’s chest rumble as she laughed. “Can you believe that people think I’m the overprotective one?”_ _

__Evie pulled back and looked at the older woman when she heard her laugh. “You two are a perfect match, that’s for sure.” Fairy Godmother said._ _

__Mal kissed Evie’s cheek and brought up a hand to rub her back. Evie hated herself for it, but she gave in and leaned forward, resting her head on Mal’s shoulder. She should be taking care of Mal right now, but she had been so worried and the purple haired girl always knew what to do to calm her down right away._ _

__“Here is the Ibuprofen.” When Evie heard Dr. Rhodes’ voice, she stood up and took the bottle of pills._ _

__Mal was discharged from the health center a few minutes later. A limo had already arrive to take them all back to Auradon Prep. Evie got in first, putting Ellie on her lap and wrapping an arm around Mal. Surprisingly, her girlfriend actually did cuddle into her side._ _

__When they got back to the school, Mal was half asleep. Evie kissed her forehead. “Time to go inside, my love.”_ _

__Mal smiled at her. “You’re still so pretty, you know that?”_ _

__“Are you sure you don’t have a fever or something? You’re delirious.” Evie said with a roll of her eyes._ _

__“Nope, you’re just perfect.” Mal kissed her cheek._ _

__The two of them got out and looked towards Fairy Godmother. “I’m glad that you’re okay, Mal. You should go home and take a nap before you get ready for Thanksgiving.”_ _

__“We don’t have anything to really get ready for.” Evie stated. “Mal will have plenty of time to rest.”_ _

__FG just nodded her head. “Okay. Well, I’ll see you all next week. Enjoy your break from school, and let me know if you need anything.”_ _

__“We will.” Evie told her. FG got back into the limo so it could take her to her destination. Evie led Mal into the dorms._ _

__As soon as they got into their room, Carlos and Jay practically attacked them with questions. Evie would have laughed if they weren’t being so loud._ _

__“Can you stop yelling?” she interrupted Jay midsentence. “Mal has a concussion and she needs to rest so she can recover.”_ _

__“A very mild concussion.” Mal corrected. “E’s just being overprotective.”_ _

__“Seriously, you’re almost as bad as Mal.” Jay told her. “The guy was well over six feet and more than a hundred pounds heavier than you, and you had him on his ass in two seconds flat.”_ _

__Carlos laughed. “Not only that, but ripped his helmet clean off his head.”_ _

__Evie rolled her eyes as she felt the heat creeping into her cheeks. “Shut up.”_ _

__“I think it’s cute.” Mal said, then winced a second later._ _

__“Get in bed.” Evie commanded, leaving no room for argument. She passed Ellie to Carlos. “Can you guys take her down to the kitchen or something and feed her lunch so I can get Mal settled?”_ _

__“Yep.” Carlos responded before Jay could say anything rude._ _

__“Thank you.” They left the room, leaving only the two girls. “Come on, M. Get in bed.”_ _

__Mal stripped out of her Tourney clothes and slid back on the pajama pants and t-shirt she had slept in the night before. She crawled underneath the blankets and Evie covered her up._ _

__“Lay with me.” She said, pouting slightly._ _

__“Hold on.” Evie grabbed her a bottle of water and shook two Ibuprofens into her hand. She gave both to Mal, who swallowed it without protest. Once she was finished, Evie got into bed next to her. She barely had a second to get comfortable before Mal was pulling her into her arms._ _

__Evie looked at her girlfriend. She leaned up so she could kiss her lips. “I love you.”_ _

__“I love you more.” Mal smiled at her. “I’m sorry I scared you.”_ _

__“I’m just glad you’re okay.” Evie stroked her cheek. “Now sleep, baby.”_ _

__Mal’s eyes drifted shut and it wasn’t long before both of the girls had fallen asleep._ _

__\-----_ _

__That evening, Evie woke up when she heard someone knock on the door. She glanced over and saw that the boys were passed out on their bed and Ellie was sleeping in her crib. She untangled herself from Mal’s arms and went over to answer it._ _

__“Hello, Miss Evie.” One of the royal guards greeted. “Prince Ben has sent a limo to bring you to Thanksgiving.”_ _

__Evie frowned. What part of no had Ben not understood? She had absolutely no intention on spending the day with Ben’s family._ _

__“Thanks, but we already told Ben we’re not coming.” Mal responded as she came up behind her. Evie hadn’t even realized she was awake._ _

__Evie heard her phone vibrate and went over to look at it. She had a text message._ _

___From: Ben  
I know you didn’t want to celebrate at the castle, and I understand that. But I didn’t want you to be alone. FG and Jane want you to join them for Thanksgiving at FG’s cottage. _ _ _

__Evie couldn’t help but smile. She went over to her girlfriend, who was still standing by the door, and handed her phone to her._ _

__Mal read the message, then looked to Evie. “What do you think?”_ _

__“We want to make traditions for Ellie, remember?”_ _

__Mal nodded, then looked at the guard. “Can you give us a little time to get ready?”_ _

__“As you wish, Miss Mal.”_ _

__Evie shut the door while Mal went over to wake the boys. Once they were sitting up, she explained the situation, to which they both agreed._ _

__“Alright, we all need to get dressed. Carlos, help Jay pick out something that isn’t too casual, please.” Evie instructed._ _

__“I will.” Carlos called as the boys left the room to go to their own dorm and change._ _

__Evie went into the closet and pulled out a nice outfit for Mal first, then passed it to her girlfriend. She found an outfit for herself and changed into it._ _

__“How are you feeling?” she asked Mal once they were both dressed._ _

__“I feel okay. No headache or anything.”_ _

__“Good.” Evie kissed her cheek. “I’m going to touch up my makeup. Can you change Ellie’s diaper and put a new outfit on her?”_ _

__“Yeah. What do you want her to wear?”_ _

__“One of her dresses. Maybe the light pink one.”_ _

__“Okay.” They separated to do their tasks._ _

__Twenty minutes later, all four of the VKs were ready to go. They walked down to the front of the dorm building together where the limo was waiting. They got into the back of it and the driver took them to Fairy Godmother’s cottage._ _

__When they pulled up, FG was waiting outside. She immediately came over to them. “Hello, children. I couldn’t stand the thought of you having nowhere to go for Thanksgiving, so I spoke to Prince Ben about it. I hope you don’t mind.”_ _

__Evie went over and hugged her. “Thank you for the invitation.” When she pulled away, she was surprised to see tears in the older woman’s eyes._ _

__“You’re so welcome, sweetheart.” FG touched her cheek for a moment, then smiled at the others. “It’s not a castle, but this is my home. Jane and I are so happy you could join us.”_ _

__“Thank you.” Mal told her as she walked past her to go stand by Evie and Ellie._ _

__“Thanks.” Jay repeated as he smiled at the woman._ _

__“Thank you.” Carlos said._ _

__“You’ve all come so far.” Fairy Godmother praised. “Now come along, let’s go inside. It’s time for your first Thanksgiving meal!”_ _

__Once they were inside, Evie couldn’t help but smile as she looked around. There were pictures of Jane as a child and tiny little trinkets everywhere. Evie had never been somewhere that felt so homey, and she absolutely loved it._ _

__They were ushered into the dining room, where Jane was waiting. Even the normally timid girl seemed more relaxed now that she was in her home. There was a large spread of food on the table and Evie felt her nerves start to get the best of her._ _

__“You don’t need to eat a lot.” Mal whispered. “Fairy Godmother will understand. Just grab one or two things, okay? You’re alright.”_ _

__Before Evie could respond, FG came over. “I have salad ready in the kitchen in case you don’t like anything else. If I was you, I would try a small helping of turkey, mashed potatoes, and stuffing because they are all the traditional Thanksgiving foods, and they were made with my family’s secret recipes.”_ _

__“I’ll try them.” Evie promised. “Thank you.”_ _

__They all grabbed their plates of food, and Evie smiled when she saw how high Carlos and Jay had stacked their plates. They sat down together and talked happily as everyone dug in. Evie grabbed the foods FG had suggested, and Mal held Ellie so that she could eat. She tried each one and they were delicious. Once she was done, she even fed Ellie a tiny bit of mashed potatoes._ _

__Once the meal was finished, FG brought out dessert. Evie was already full and she knew that she wouldn’t feel comfortable eating any of it, so she declined. Mal grabbed a slice of apple pie._ _

__“That smells good.” Evie commented._ _

__“Do you want to taste it?” Mal offered as she picked up a tiny bite with her fork. Evie nodded, so Mal fed it to her. “What do you think?”_ _

__“That’s really good.” Evie said. She hoped that Mal wouldn’t try to make her get a piece of her own._ _

__“If you want another bite, tell me, okay?”_ _

__Evie smiled. Mal was so perfect. She didn’t know how she had gotten lucky enough to be with someone who understood her so completely._ _

__“One of our traditions is to go around the table and say what we’re thankful for.” Fairy Godmother announced, catching all of their attention. “I’ll go first. I’m thankful that I get to spend Thanksgiving with people who I care about, and that we’re all healthy.”_ _

__Jane was sitting next to her mother, so she went next. “I’m thankful for my mother, and for new friends.” She blushed as she said it._ _

__Carlos was next. “I’m thankful that we are safe, and for sweets.”_ _

__“I’m thankful for my family and for Tourney.” Jay said._ _

__Mal answered next. “I’m thankful for Evie, and for our family, and for everyone who never gave up on us.” She glanced at FG as she spoke, who smiled widely._ _

__Evie was last. “I’m thankful to have so many people who love me and want the best for me. I’m thankful for Mal, and for Ellie, and of course the boys. I’m thankful for getting the opportunity to live in Auradon because my life has gotten so much better and for the first time in a long time, I can actually say that I feel happy.”_ _

__Mal leaned over and kissed her cheek. “Me too, Princess.”_ _

__“Me too.” Jay chimed in._ _

__“Me too.” Carlos agreed._ _

__Fairy Godmother smiled. “Me too.”_ _


	40. Confessions

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I am SO SORRY for how long this chapter took! I'm back at work and I have been so busy adjusting to that and I just haven't had enough time to dedicate to this story. I'm very late on this update, but I'm hoping that the next one won't take as long! Also, thank you all so much for reading and loving this story! It's now up to 400 comments, which is absolutely insane! 
> 
> This chapter has some sensitive stuff, and a lot of references to Isle flashbacks that have already happened in this story, just as a warning! 
> 
> Please let me know what you think! Only ten more chapters to go!

_Mal moved quickly from the market. With every step she took, she was getting further and further away from her girlfriend, which was exactly what she wanted. She needed to put as much space between herself and Evie as possible._

_“Not too much further.” Gil called out to her, running just as quickly as Mal was. They weaved through the different market stands, dodging people who were lingering around._

_The air was cold on Mal’s face, but she didn’t give it a second thought. Luckily, Evie had gotten enough fabric to make their crew (plus Uma, Harry, and Gil) some warm underclothes, so she didn’t feel too cold. But she knew as they moved further into winter, the weather would get worse._

_She turned a corner, seeing Jay just up ahead. She moved to stand next to him, feeling Gil stop right behind her._

_“Straight up ahead.” Jay mumbled._

_Mal looked around, seeing people from her crew and from Uma’s standing together. Everyone was ready. It surprised her that they were all so willing to come here together, but it shouldn’t have been too shocking. Evie was loved by nearly everyone who had ever met her, and they hadn’t hesitated to rally around the blue haired girl._

_Mal, Jay, and Gil kept walking until they got to where Uma and Carlos were standing. Mal took the lead, feeling Carlos and Jay go to either side of her. Uma and Gil disappeared down one of the alleys._

_After another minute of walking, they came face to face with the person Mal wanted to kill more than anything. The Evil Queen stood before them, a couple of her henchmen trailing behind her._

_Mal studied the older woman. She knew there was a time she had been beautiful, but she couldn’t see it now. Years of mixing chemicals and testing them on herself to try and make herself look younger had eliminated her beauty. She was overweight, and her hair almost looked like it was falling out._

_“Look who it is. Maleficent’s little disappointment.” Grimhilde sneered, her eyes narrowing._

_“You shouldn’t be here.” Mal responded. She wasn’t going to play her games. She knew that EQ was just trying to get a rise out of her._

_EQ laughed. “Wow, you really think you’re something, don’t you? You think you can tell me where I should and shouldn’t be?”_

_“You are in my territory.” Mal stated._

_“And you have something that belongs to me.” All traces of a smile dropped off of the woman’s face. “I’m going to ask you this one time. Where is Genevieve?”_

_“Dead.” Mal said simply._

_“Do you truly think I am that stupid, girl? She has been gone for four months. I’m growing tired of her games.”_

_“Here’s what’s going to happen.” Mal stepped closer, feeling Jay and Carlos moving up too so they were right next to her. “You are going to get out of my sight, and out of my territory. The problem with you is that you always thought Evie was some type of possession. She doesn’t belong to you. You will stop looking for her, and if you ever come near here again, I will kill you slowly and painfully just like you deserve.”_

_The Evil Queen stared at her as the rage became obvious on her face. She stepped closer to Mal. “Who is going to stop me? You?”_

_Suddenly, the other members of their crew, plus Uma and her crew came out of the alleys. They filled in the space behind Mal, Jay, and Carlos, holding their weapons at the ready._

_“She has some help.” Uma answered casually, spinning her sword around in her hand._

_EQ’s eyes landed on her son. “You are really going to side against me, boy?”_

_Harry laughed, throwing his head back. He looked at her with wild eyes. “You’ve been siding against me since the day I was born.”_

_Mal kept her eyes glued to Grimhilde. She may be a psychotic bitch, but she wasn’t stupid. She knew that she was outnumbered, and Mal smirked when she took a step back._

_“Tell the little bitch that the longer she hides, the worse she is making things for herself. I will get Genevieve back, no matter what it takes.” She promised before turning around to walk back in the direction of her home._

_The two crews rejoiced in their victory, then separated to go back to their duties. Mal, Jay, and Carlos walked together towards their hideout. They made sure no one was following them- though they had made an alliance with Uma’s crew, they didn’t reveal the location of their hideout, especially since that was where Evie was staying._

_“You really think she’ll stay out of our territory?” Jay questioned as they got close to the hideout._

_“I don’t know.” Mal admitted. “I don’t trust Evie’s safety with anyone but the three of us. We just have to keep making sure that she’s hidden away and no one knows where she is.” She threw a rock and hit the sign._

_When Mal walked upstairs, she found Evie asleep on the couch. She was four months along now and feeling the effects of her pregnancy. She had been so moody and tired lately that the others never knew when they would say something that would set her off._

_Mal sat down on the edge of the couch and stroked the hair out of her girl’s face. All of this would be worth it as long as Evie and this baby were safe._

\-----

_“MAL!” Maleficent bellowed as soon as the teenager walked through the door. She fought the urge to roll her eyes. She hadn’t been to Bargain Castle in a few days and she didn’t feel like dealing with her mother, but she knew there would be consequences if she ignored her._

_“Yes, Mother?” she asked as she walked into the room._

_“There’s my nasty little girl.” Maleficent said, catching Mal off guard. It was very rare that she got any type of praise from her mother. “I have to say, I didn’t know you had it in you. I guess you are mine after all.”_

_“What are you talking about, Mother?” Mal questioned._

_“Word around here is that you have been particularly ruthless lately. I heard that you killed one of the older pirates who was snooping around our territory, then you maimed one of the Huns, and now you’re threatening Grimhilde!?” Maleficent cackled. “Going after a villain with a reputation like EQ’s is a big step for you. I can’t believe you actually did it!”_

_Mal’s entire body was tense. Maleficent had no idea that the only reason she was acting like this was because she needed to protect Evie and her unborn baby. If she found out the truth, Mal knew that everyone she cared about would be dead._

_She smirked and tilted her head up. “What can I say? I’m rotten to the core.”_

\-----

Ben had an idea. 

He knew that his parents would absolutely hate it and try to talk him out of it, but Ben wasn’t stupid. He knew that this would be his best shot at making his dreams a reality. 

The more time he spent with the VKs, the more he wanted to get them all off the Isle. The uprisings on the Isle had been getting worse by the day, and last he heard, someone had burned down one of the schools. If he didn’t step in, people were going to get hurt or get killed. They may all be fighting, but he knew that these kids were relatively innocent. They had been abused (in more ways than one) and they were only doing what they had been taught to do. Most importantly, they didn’t deserve to be punished for their parents’ crimes, but he knew that he needed some support to get others to believe that. 

He knew that many of the members of the council would still be in Auradon because of Thanksgiving. Their best bet would be to appeal to those royals and try to gain their support. 

Ben had an idea, but he knew he needed to talk to the VKs first and see what they thought. 

Ben knocked on the door to the girls’ dorm, knowing that the boys would most likely be there too. He knew that they had been practically living in there again, but he wasn’t going to say anything when there were much more important things to worry about. 

“Hey Ben.” Carlos greeted when he opened the door. He stood in the small opening, blocking Ben’s view of the others. 

“Hi Carlos.” He said politely. “I need to talk to you guys.”

“Can it wait?” 

“No, this has to happen as soon as possible. It’s really important.” 

He heard movement in the room and a second later, the door opened a little wider so Mal could stand next to Carlos. “What’s wrong?” 

“I need to talk to you all about the Isle and the kids there.” 

Ben watched as Mal looked over her shoulder. She paused for a few seconds, then moved aside so he could come into the room. His eyes immediately landed on Evie, who was sitting on one of the beds with Ellie attached to her breast. He figured that that was the reason Mal and Carlos had blocked the doorway. 

“Is she asleep yet?” Mal questioned as she went over to sit next to her girlfriend. 

“Almost.” Evie replied quietly. “M, can you grab one of her blankets for me?” Mal went over to the changing table to get a blanket. She held it out to Evie, who used it to cover up her daughter so that her breasts weren’t exposed. She had already been wearing a t-shirt that was pulled up just enough that Ellie could latch on, but Ben figured she wanted a little more privacy. 

Mal stayed glued to Evie’s side, while Jay and Carlos chose to sit down at the end of the other bed. Ben grabbed the chair from Evie’s desk and pulled it over so he could look at all of them. 

“The uprisings are getting worse.” He began. “Last night, Serpent Prep was burned to the ground.” 

“Shit.” Mal muttered.

“Was anyone hurt?” Evie wondered. 

“I’m not sure.” Ben admitted. “Is that part of your territory?”

“It’s part of Uma’s.” she answered, then looked to Mal. The purple haired girl leaned down and kissed her forehead. 

Ben couldn’t beat around the bush anymore. “I know that you all value honesty, so I’m just going to say what I’m thinking.” 

“We would appreciate that.” Carlos agreed. 

“I want to bring over more Isle kids.” He stated. “Now seems like the best time since there is already a war happening. I don’t want anyone else to get hurt or be forced to do things that could ruin their chances of coming to Auradon.” 

“Like what?” Evie asked, her eyes narrowing slightly. “Like killing someone?” 

Ben froze up. The VKs were so unpredictable and he never knew when he was going to say something that would trigger or offend them. “Evie, you know that the subject of the Isle is already very tense. It’s going to be a lot harder for me to make a case that the other kids are innocent and need to come to Auradon if they’re in the middle of a war.” 

“But you made exceptions for me, and for Mal.” 

“Hey.” Mal interrupted. “Take a deep breath, Princess. Calm down.” Ben sighed in relief; he didn’t know how he would have responded to Evie’s statement. “Let him finish what he’s saying.” 

Ben looked at Evie, who motioned for him to continue talking. “To bring over more kids, I need to have support from the council. They let me choose the four of you as part of my first proclamation, but anyone else will have to be approved by the council and my parents.” 

“So what are you asking us to do?” Mal questioned. It was kind of freaky how easily they could read people. 

Ben studied each of them. Evie was holding Ellie close to her chest and leaning against Mal, who had an arm wrapped tightly around her waist. Jay and Carlos both looked a little weary of what he was going to ask.

“A lot of the members of the council are still in Auradon because of Thanksgiving.” Ben said. “I was thinking that maybe if they had a little more knowledge on what happens on the Isle, they might be more willing to consider supporting the VK Exchange Program.” He looked at each of them again. “I was wondering if you would want to tell the council your stories.” 

He observed each of their reactions. Jay was frowning, Carlos’s shoulders slumped as he shrunk in on himself, Evie was biting her lip and looking at Mal, who surprisingly didn’t look upset. 

“So let me get this straight.” Mal stated. “You want us to sit in front of the same council of people who threw our parents onto the Isle, the same council who knew they had children and chose to do nothing to help us, and tell them our deepest darkest secrets? All so they might let you bring over more kids?” 

“I know it sounds crazy.” Ben responded quickly. “I know this won’t be easy, but people in Auradon are so blind to what happens on the island. If they heard about it, I think they would try to help.” 

“You think, or you hope?” Evie questioned. 

“I hope.” Ben muttered. “It’s your choice. I won’t force you to do anything.” 

He could see that none of them were particularly eager to confess what had happened to them. Obviously, Ben knew that they had all suffered abuse on the Isle. He knew that Mal had killed someone before and that she had been controlled by Maleficent, but that was about it. He knew even less about the boys’ backgrounds. He had the most information about Evie, and her story was enough to make a person sick to their stomach.

“Okay.” 

Ben looked up, feeling even more surprised by the fact that it was the Isle princess who had spoken. Evie looked nervous, but determined. 

“Really?” 

Evie nodded. “If it can help bring more kids over and keep them from getting hurt the way we did, then it’s worth it.” 

“If Evie wants to do it, I will.” Jay chimed. 

“Me too.” Carlos said quietly. 

They all turned towards Mal, who had been silent for the past couple minutes. Finally, she spoke. “We get to choose what we tell, and it’s only to the council. I don’t want them to tell our business to everyone, or for them to know every single detail.” 

“Of course.” Ben agreed.

“And we get to pick the next group of kids.” Evie added. 

Ben nodded. “I was hoping you all would help me decide.” 

Jay spoke next. “So how does this work?”

“I will talk to my parents today. I don’t think they’ll try to stop me from doing this, and I’ll bring Fairy Godmother with me as backup. After they say it’s okay, we will call a meeting with the Royal Council. I’ll find the earliest day they can be here and then I will let you know.” 

They all nodded in understanding. Ben couldn’t help but marvel at their strength. He knew that this meeting was going to be difficult, but he hoped that this would help. He would do whatever it took to save the kids trapped on that horrible island.

\-----

Ever since their conversation with Ben, Evie’s anxiety had sky rocketed. She couldn’t believe that the future king really expected her and her friends to sit down and talk about all the horrors that had happened in their lives. How was she supposed to sit in front of the heroes in their parents’ stories and explain that she had been abused and assaulted by so many people she had lost count? 

“Hey.” A soft voice interrupted her thoughts. Evie felt something touch her face and she flinched back, squeezing her eyes shut. “It’s okay, baby girl. It’s just me.” 

Evie let out a shaky sigh when she realized it was Mal. Her eyes fluttered open and focused in on her girlfriend. Mal looked upset, and her eyes were getting that lighter green color that usually meant they weren’t too far off from glowing. 

“Come here.” Mal said as she held open her arms. 

Evie crawled over to her without hesitation. She sat right between her legs and cuddled into her chest. Mal held her tightly and finally, Evie felt like she could breathe again. 

“Listen to me, baby.” Mal rocked her gently back and forth. “If you don’t want to do this, then you don’t have to. It’s okay to change your mind.” 

“But what about the other kids?” she asked, her voice coming out shakier than she intended. She was sitting on the bed with Mal, Ellie was asleep in her crib, and the boys were sitting on the other bed facing towards them. She saw both Jay and Carlos perk up when she brought up the children on the Isle. 

“I want them to be here.” Mal stated as she ran her fingers through long, blue hair. “But there has to be another way. I don’t want you to feel like you have to do something that you’re not comfortable with.” 

“I just don’t want them to know everything.” Evie nearly whispered. 

Mal put a hand on her chin to tilt it up, then leaned in and pressed a gentle kiss to her lips. “You only have to tell them what you want to tell them.” 

Evie thought it over. She knew that she had an ugly, horrible past and she felt sick to her stomach at the thought of talking about it. But at the same time, she knew that the Auradon Council needed to hear it. Unfortunately, her story wasn’t completely unique. If she could save other children from going through what she did, then she would do it. “I’m not talking about Quinton.” She said hurriedly. “The rest of the stuff I’m going to tell them is bad enough that they don’t really need to know about him, right?” 

“Right.” Jay responded. 

“If you don’t want to talk about him, we won’t mention it.” Carlos agreed. 

Mal didn’t speak. Instead, she kissed Evie’s shoulder and held her a little tighter. The blue haired girl relaxed into her and tried to calm herself down. She tried to focus on the feeling of Mal’s fingertips tracing shapes over her arm. 

“It’s going to be weird.” Jay spoke after a moment of silence, causing the others to look at him. “I mean, I’ve told Dr. Bren some stuff, but it’ll be different telling everyone.” 

“What have you told her?” Carlos questioned. His face turned red a second later. “I’m sorry, you don’t have to tell me.” 

“It’s not anything you don’t already know.” Jay said with a sad smile, bumping his shoulder against the curly haired boy’s. “Just about my dad.” 

“I told her about my mom.” Mal informed them, taking the attention off of Jay (which he looked extremely grateful for). Evie leaned up and kissed Mal’s neck in encouragement. “Dr. Bren says that she was abusive and manipulative. Isn’t it so weird that we don’t say words like that on the Isle, and if we do, it’s supposed to be a good thing?” 

“We’re not like that anymore.” Now, it was Evie’s turn to reassure her girlfriend. 

“I don’t think I ever was.” Mal admitted. “That’s why she hated me so much.” 

“No, she hated you because she is a sick person who just wanted to hurt you, just like the rest of our parents.” Evie reached up to cup her cheek. “We love you for who you are, M. You don’t ever have to pretend to be someone else to impress us.” Mal smiled at her and kissed her forehead. 

“I talked about my mom finally.” Carlos said after a few moments had passed. “It was pretty recently. I don’t know what it’s going to be like sitting in front of strangers and admitting that she used to hurt me.” 

“It’s all going to be hard.” Mal answered. “But we’ll get through it together. We have to do this.” 

Evie just leaned into her again. She really didn’t want to talk about her mother or all the things she had put her through, but she needed to follow through. She had promised she would bring Harry and Uma to Auradon, and she wasn’t going back on that now. 

\-----

Fairy Godmother rushed into Ben’s office. She found the future king sitting at his desk, staring down at a stack of paperwork. 

“Please tell me this isn’t true.” 

Ben looked up at her and FG couldn’t help but feel a pang in her heart at the bags under his eyes. This boy was the same age as Jane. He was too young to have the burden on his shoulders that came with running a kingdom. 

“What do you mean, FG?” Ben asked as he gestured towards the chair across from him. 

“You called a council meeting?” 

“Yes.” He answered shortly. He avoided eye contact. 

FG sighed. “Ben, what are you doing? Why would you force them into this?”

“I didn’t force them to do anything.” He responded. “They agreed to it.” 

“Talking about their pasts could backfire. If the council doesn’t receive their stories well…” 

“I know that there is a possibility they will be upset.” Ben told her. “But we have to take the risk. FG, people are dying on the Isle. There is a brutal war over territory going on between two teenagers who were forced to live there because of their parents’ mistakes. We need support as soon as possible, and this is the best way I can think of doing it.” 

“What if it hurts them?” she wondered. Ben had such a good heart, and she understood where he was coming from. But she wasn’t convinced that he had completely thought this through. “Evie has made so much progress, but she is still fragile. Mal and Jay are both going to be perceived as threats. People already see Carlos as weak. I just don’t want them to be negatively affected.” 

Ben frowned. “I won’t let that happen.” 

“What will happen when Evie confesses to killing her mother? Or when Mal talks about killing the boy? The council will think they’re dangerous.” 

“Mal won’t be talking about it.” Ben said. “We already discussed that. Mal won’t mention it, and my parents already promised me that Evie wouldn’t face any consequences. Listen, I know you’re worried, but I’ve thought this through. I’ve been working with the VKs every step of the way, and I think this is the best shot.”

Fairy Godmother could tell how determined he was. She truly hoped that this was the right thing.

“I made sure that you will be sitting near them. Dr. Bren is coming too, just in case they need her.” 

FG nodded, because what else could she do? “Can I see them?” 

“I don’t know. The meeting starts in an hour, and they wanted to be alone. I’ll take you to them.” 

Fairy Godmother followed Ben down the hallway to a separate conference room. He knocked on the door and they waited patiently for permission to answer. 

Jay was the one to open it. “It’s FG and Ben.” He called over his shoulder. The others must not have objected, because then he was stepping back and allowing them to enter. 

FG’s heart sank. It was pretty obvious that these children were a nervous wreck. Evie was biting her lip and pacing near Mal, who was sitting on top of a desk with Ellie on her lap. Carlos was on the floor with his knees pulled up to his chest, and Jay’s fists were clenched and his leg was bouncing. 

“Hello, children.” She greeted, trying to give them a reassuring smile. They all looked over at her, but didn’t speak. “How are you doing?” 

“Not great.” Mal answered. Evie paced past her and she reached out to grab her arm, then pulled her towards her. FG watched as Mal just looked up at Evie, then without saying a word, she wrapped an arm around her waist and pulled her close. Evie sighed and gave in, hugging Mal back and resting her head on her shoulder. Ellie reached out and touched her mother’s long blue locks as she babbled. 

Ben stepped forward, rubbing his hands against the legs of his suit. “Here’s how we’re going to do this. Audrey and Lonnie should be here any minute to keep an eye on Ellie. You’re all going to come into the room and you’ll take turns telling your stories. Is there a certain order you want to go in?” 

The four teenagers looked at each other, obviously trying to decide who would be the best story to start with. FG would bet anything that Evie would go last; she knew that her life would be perceived as the worst out of the VKs. 

“I’ll go first.” Jay chimed in. 

Carlos sighed. “I guess I’ll go second.” 

That left the girls to decide. FG watched Mal stroke her fingers through Evie’s hair. “It’s up to you, babe. Do you want to go after Carlos?” Evie shook her head. “Then I will and you can go last.” Mal kissed her forehead. 

Jay went over and sat on the ground next to Carlos and started to talk to him quietly. The four of them drifted off into their own little world, and Fairy Godmother decided to give them their privacy.

It wasn’t long before a knock on the door interrupted their quiet conversations. Ben opened it and moved aside, letting Audrey and Lonnie come into the room. FG was happy to see that the VKs didn’t jump to hide their feelings; she was glad that they had made some friends in Auradon. 

“Hey guys.” Audrey greeted with a smile. FG couldn’t help but think about how proud she was of the teenager. Audrey had always been one of Jane’s best friends, so she had known her since she was a child. She had been sweet when she was younger, but then developed a self-centered attitude once she became a teenager. It was nice to see that she was being so kind and considerate where the VKs were concerned. 

“Hi.” Jay responded. The others just sat silently. 

“It’s almost time for the meeting to start.” Ben said with obvious reluctance. 

“You promise they won’t send us back?” Evie asked suddenly. Fairy Godmother hadn’t heard her speak at all yet, so her voice was startling in the previously silent room. 

Ben shook his head. “No one will send you back. The four of you, and Ellie, are here to stay.” He looked to each of them. “If you get uncomfortable or you don’t want to keep going, you can always stop, okay? I don’t want you to have to push yourself so hard that you are struggling.” 

“Got it.” Mal confirmed. She stood up, shuffling Evie to stand next to her as she did. She looked at the little girl in her arms. “Alright Ellie Belly, you’re going to stay with Audrey and Lonnie, okay? I know you’re going to be a perfect angel for them.” She kissed her cheeks, then forehead. “Give Mama a kiss.” 

Evie reached out and took Ellie from her. She held her daughter close, her eyes closed as she rocked back and forth with Ellie against her chest. The little girl started to squirm as she tried to escape from her mother’s hold. 

“There’s baby food in the diaper bag, and a bottle and diapers. Her favorite blanket and all of her toys are in there too, and a blanket that you can spread on the floor for her to play on.” Mal explained to Audrey and Lonnie. “She can’t crawl yet, but you still have to keep a close eye on her because she’s pretty good at scooting around on her stomach and she’ll put anything she finds in her mouth. If she starts to cry, she probably just wants a bottle or to be cuddled. If you can’t get her to calm down or you’re not sure what to do, text me and I’ll come in here.” 

“Does she have a pacifier or anything?” Lonnie questioned. 

Jay snorted. “You think we have shit like that on the Isle?” 

“Swear jar!” Ben shouted out. Fairy Godmother couldn’t help but laugh at the future king’s excitement, especially when Jay just glared at him. Everyone else started to laugh too, except Evie and Mal. 

FG’s eyes drifted towards the girls. Mal was hugging Evie, Ellie smashed between them. When they separated, FG saw Mal wipe tears away from Evie’s cheeks, then lean in and give her a quick kiss. Evie gave Ellie a kiss, then passed her over to Mal. 

The purple haired girl walked over to Audrey. “Keep her safe. If you need anything, let us know.” She told her. She kissed Ellie again, and then gave her to Audrey. 

“She’s going to be okay.” Audrey promised. 

Mal nodded. “I hope so.” She held her hand out and Evie automatically went over to her, gripping her hand in her own. Ben seemed to understand that they were ready and he went to the front of the group, the VKs walking behind him. Fairy Godmother offered Audrey and Lonnie a smile, and then followed the group.

She truly hoped that this wasn’t about to be a disaster. 

\-----

Jay had never felt so uneasy before. Normally, he wasn’t afraid to speak in front of people. He had always been charming, and he was known as being one of the smoothest talkers on the Isle. But when he walked into the council room and saw all of the royals, he felt a knot in his stomach. 

The first person his eyes drifted to was Jasmine. Right next to her was Aladdin, and both of their eyes were glued on him. Jay couldn’t even imagine what they were thinking about him. He knew that his father had hurt them and he hoped that they would give him a chance to explain why he wasn’t like Jafar. 

Jay’s eyes scanned the room, knowing that it was best to always know what you were up against. Just as he predicted, he found Aurora and Philip, and Snow White. Roger and Anita Radcliffe weren’t on the council, so Carlos had lucked out in that department. Other members included Ariel and Eric, Tiana and Naveen, Cinderella and Prince Charming (Jay wanted to throw up when he saw them and remembered what their son had done to Evie), Elsa and Anna, Rapunzel and Flynn, Mulan and Li Shang, and obviously Adam and Belle. Dr. Bren was sitting in a chair further away from the table, and she caught his eye and smiled, as if she was silently wishing him luck. Jay knew he would need it. 

Ben led them to the front of the room. Everyone else was sitting around a large table. There was an empty space with six seats. Ben took the first, followed by Jay, then Carlos, Evie, Mal, and finally Fairy Godmother. Silence settled over the room as the royals got their first real look at the VKs. 

Jay wasn’t sure what the proper etiquette was here. Did they speak first? Did the royals? Did Ben? He glanced over at Evie; out of the four of them, she was the best at knowing what to do in new social situations. With one look at his friend, he knew she wouldn’t be any help. The blue haired girl’s hands were shaking and her eyes were darting around the room anxiously. Jay caught Mal’s eye, who just offered a tiny shrug. 

“I would like you all to meet the first members of the VK Exchange Program.” Ben announced as she stood. “Today, they will share their stories with you. I ask that this information be kept confidential. The VKs would like to share their stories in hope that you will think about agreeing to expand the program. They are going to introduce themselves.” 

Jay took that as his cue to begin. “I’m Jay, the son of Jafar.” 

“Carlos, son of Cruella DeVil.” 

“My name is Evie. I’m the daughter of the Evil Queen.” 

“Mal, daughter of Maleficent.” 

Jay took a deep breath and then decided that it was time to get this started. “I’m going to tell you about me first.” He scanned his eyes over the room. Some of them looked defensive, some understanding, and some he couldn’t read at all. He wasn’t sure what the reaction to this would be, but he had to try his best. No child deserved to grow up and live like Jay and his friends. 

“My name is Jay, and I’m 16, almost 17 years old. I was born on the Isle of the Lost, obviously. In Auradon, a sixteen year old is still a kid. But on the Isle, I was seen as an adult by everyone practically since I was old enough to walk the streets on my own. You have very little time to be an actual child, and that time for me wasn’t great since my father is Jafar.” He looked to Aladdin and Jasmine as he spoke.

Surprisingly, they didn’t seem like they were judging him. They were both watching him curiously, and Jasmine even offered him a small, sympathetic smile. 

“I don’t know who my mother is.” Jay informed the council. “I saw a picture of her once, but I don’t know her name or why she was on the Isle. For a long time, I was told that she died during childbirth. I had no memories of her and nothing to hold onto that would make me believe that she was alive. I know it sounds kind of weird, but when you never have a mother, you don’t know what you are missing.

“When I was seven years old, Jafar sent me out to steal for his shop. It was a bad day, and I came back empty handed. That was the first time he beat me. I cried and begged him to stop, and for some reason, I called out for the mother that I had never known. He told me that it was my fault she was dead. It turns out that he had murdered her when I was two years old out of jealousy. She had loved me and taken care of me, and he was upset that she spent more time with me than with him. He went into detail, telling me about how he strangled her and then threw her body into the ocean.” 

Jay felt a hand slip into his and it startled him slightly. He glanced over at Carlos, who offered him a tiny smile and squeezed his hand. Jay squeezed back, allowing the boy to give him a little comfort. 

“When you live on the Isle, you have to prove that you are useful. If you aren’t useful, then you will die.” He chanced a look at the royals. Aurora, Cinderella, and Snow White looked horrified. Jay held in a grimace; if this made them upset, he didn’t know how they would react to the rest of the information they were about to get. “A lot of kids die pretty early on. The parents are always at war for who can have the most of something- the most territory, the most power, the most supplies on drop off day. They don’t have time to spend on taking care of a child, so most kids have to start taking care of themselves when they’re young.

“When I was five, I started to steal for my father. He owned a shop in the market, and he was a known cheapskate. He hardly ever bought merchandise, instead forcing whoever he could blackmail to steal for him. I was a stupid little kid, and I saw how happy he would get when he had gold or jewels. I wanted him to be happy with me, so I started sneaking around to the different stands and taking whatever I could get my hands on. For the first time ever, Jafar was impressed with me. But after a while, it started to just be something he expected. Nothing I took was ever good enough, and he always thought that I could take more. 

“Like I said, the first time he beat me was when I was seven. That lasted for a while, but then I got bigger and stronger and it didn’t bother me as much. He always wanted to prove that he was the one in charge and that I was indebted to him for being born.” Jay paused for a second and shut his eyes. He took a couple deep breaths like Dr. Bren had taught him so that he could calm down and keep himself from sliding too deep into his memories. “When I was nine, he started to use a whip.” 

At that, there were audible gasps in the room. Jay felt sick, but then he realized this was good. These people needed to be shocked. There were kids on the Isle every day going through abuse and torture, and the least these Auradonians could do was listen to the stories. Jay stood and turned around, then pulled his shirt up to reveal his back. 

He tried his best not to look at his back in the mirror, but sometimes, it couldn’t be avoided. He knew that there were deep cuts etched into his back from all of his father’s beatings. He could remember all the times Evie, Carlos, and Mal had bandaged him up and nursed him back to health, especially on the couple occasions where Jafar went too far and nearly killed him. 

Jay pulled his shirt back down and sat in his chair again. He immediately reached over and linked his hand with Carlos’s so he still had some contact to ground him in reality. 

“Things got a little easier after I met them.” He said, gesturing with his hand towards his family. “We all had a lot of responsibilities and expectations put on us by our parents. We started to work together and help each other out. It was easier once we made our crew.”

“Can I ask a question?” Rapunzel spoke up. Jay was a little surprised, but nodded anyway. “What is a crew?” 

“An alliance.” Mal answered for him. “You find people to team up with, and you work towards a common goal. We aren’t allowed to have friends or relationships, but you could have a crew.” 

“Mal, Evie, and Carlos are part of my crew.” Jay took back over. “Our parents would work together occasionally, and we all met when we were 6. A few years later, we made our own crew so we could protect the other kids on the Isle. We all had our responsibilities, and mine was to protect my crew. 

“There isn’t a lot of food to go around on the Isle, but they always forced me to eat so that I could get my strength up. I would say that I’m one of the bigger guys on the island, and I needed to be strong enough that I could fight if it was necessary. It’s pretty common for other crews to jump you to get something that you have, and since I had the reputation as the best thief, people knew I almost always had valuables on me. If someone came after one of my friends, it was my job to keep them safe. 

“My story isn’t anything special though.” Jay said after thinking about it for a moment. “There are a lot of kids who are probably being beaten, and forced to steal, and fighting to protect themselves and others on the Isle right now. I don’t know one kid on that island who hasn’t been in some type of fight or had to hurt someone to stay alive. I didn’t realize until we came to Auradon how different things could be. For the first time in sixteen years, I haven’t had to watch my back or be on the defensive. The closest I’ve gotten to a fight is playing Tourney. I’m not stealing or begging for food or having to protect the people I love from someone who wants to hurt them. For the first time ever, I can actually act like a kid.” 

When Jay stopped speaking, the room was engulfed in silence. He looked at each of the royals and swore he saw tears in some of their eyes. A few of them looked angry, and he didn’t know how to react to that. Were they angry at him for telling this story? 

He turned towards his friends. Mal was wearing the careful, bored expression she used whenever she didn’t want someone to know her true feelings. Evie still looked a little unfocused, but she made eye contact with him and smiled. Carlos squeezed his hand again. Jay glanced to his other side and Ben offered him a small nod, as if he was saying that he did good. 

But Jay knew he was far from out of the woods. His story might be done, but he still needed to be there for his friends. He prepared himself for his best friend’s story. 

\-----

Carlos felt Jay squeeze his hand and he knew that it was time for him to speak. All of a sudden, his throat felt dry. He didn’t know how he was going to handle all of their eyes on him, just staring and judging him for what he had been through. Then, he thought about all the little kids who were trapped and deserved better. He took a breath, then started to speak. 

“I’m Carlos, and I’m 16 too.” He saw the surprise on a few of their faces. “People always say that I look younger than that. Like Jay said, there isn’t a lot of food to go around and it has to be prioritized. My strength and protectiveness hasn’t ever been my best quality, so I wasn’t first choice to get food. There were a lot of times that I had to go without eating for days, but it’s gotten better since I came to Auradon. I’ve gained some weight, and I’m even a few inches taller. 

“My mom is Cruella DeVil. By the time she was shipped to the Isle, she already had some pretty serious mental issues. I’ve done a lot of reading, and if I had to guess, I would say she probably has bipolar disorder, and even schizophrenia would make sense. Her mental state has been deteriorating for years, and the older she got, the worse it was. By the time I was born, she could barely even take care of herself. I have no idea how I was even able to survive childhood. I’ve never known who my father is, so it was always just me and Cruella. 

“My first memory is being three years old and trying to mop the kitchen floor, and Cruella getting so upset with me for splashing some bleach on one of her rugs that she dunked my head into the mop water and held me down until I almost passed out. It’s pretty sad, but that was one of the less painful ways she hurt me. 

“No matter how hard I tried to keep her happy, I could never do it right.” Carlos felt Jay squeeze his hand, and Evie’s hand came over to rest on his leg. He appreciated their support. “She always told me about how there were vicious, bloodthirsty dogs on the island and that if I didn’t clean well enough or follow her instructions, then she would feed me to them. 

“She beat me almost daily, and still expected me to do unrealistic chores- at four years old, she had me on the roof of our house trying to clean the gutters. It wasn’t until I met Maleficent that Cruella started letting me do something other than house chores. I got to go out and do her shopping and work with Mal, Jay, and Evie to get things done for Maleficent, and in exchange, Maleficent offered her protection. I eventually got pretty good at keeping things to Cruella’s standards, and I would disappear whenever I was able to. 

“But there were still times where she would beat me. I remember that when I was nine, she found a handprint on the wall. She drank a lot, and she would get drunk and destroy the house. I had been cleaning up the mess she made, and I didn’t think to wipe down the walls.” Carlos felt his knees start to tremble. “She beat me with a fire poker, and she hit me so hard in the head that I passed out.” He lifted up his curls and pointed to a spot on his forehead near his hairline. “Luckily, Evie lived next door and came to check on me. She found me bleeding and unconscious and she did what she could. She bandaged me up and dragged me outside to my tree house, then ran to get Jay and Mal so they could help. If it wasn’t for her, I wouldn’t have survived.” He looked at the blue haired girl gratefully, who just smiled sadly in return. 

Carlos turned back towards the royals. “That wasn’t my first time nearly dying, and it wasn’t my last. I was seen as useful because I could turn spare parts into any kind of invention. I created all kinds of technology on the Isle, and people wanted what I could make. I was a lot smaller than most of the other kids my age, and they would corner me in the market and attack me. Jay stepped in a lot to help, and even Mal would have to protect me. But there were still a lot of times where I would have to take the beatings. 

“There are a lot of little kids on the Isle who were dealing with the same thing, so I talked to Mal about it. Evie and I were able to recruit some of them to join our crew, and once they had Mal’s protection, they were much safer. We just wanted the kids to be safe and have the ability to be kids for longer than we did.” Carlos scanned his eyes over them, landing on Queen Belle. “We were the main crew over there protecting kids. Now that we’re gone, who knows what kinds of horrors they’re going through?” 

Similarly to when Jay finished, no one spoke at the end of Carlos’s story. He knew that there was more, but he didn’t feel the need to go into detail about every beating he had gotten from Cruella, or how many times he was attacked in the market. After seeing the tears on Rapunzel’s cheeks, he was pretty sure they had gotten the point.

Carlos could hear Evie’s rapid breathing, and he could feel Jay’s sweaty palm against his own. Now that he was finished, he felt a little bit calmer. He turned towards Mal and waited for her to begin. 

\-----

Mal watched as the royals turned their attention towards Evie. They were obviously waiting for the blue haired girl to speak since she was next in the order they had sat down in. She could already feel the nerves coming off of Evie in waves, and she knew she needed to speak quickly and get the attention off of her girlfriend. 

Jay’s and Carlos’s stories had been difficult to listen, and Mal knew they had glossed over a lot. She wanted to go a little deeper into her life. She was a very private person and she hated to reveal a weakness, but right now, she figured that the worse the story, the better. They needed to hear all the dark, gritty horrors that the people on the Isle were living through. 

“I’m Mal.” She began, causing everyone to turn towards her. She was the most aware of Aurora and Phillip, who watched her wearily. “I need you all to understand that what we’re telling you today doesn’t even begin to cover everything that has happened during our lives. It would make you sick to your stomachs to know what we went through for sixteen years, and there are some things that are too dark and horrible for us to ever explain to you. Being on the Isle of the Lost was literal hell and it has traumatized us in ways you couldn’t ever comprehend.

“When the Isle of the Lost was created, you all just decided to take all of the villains and throw them on an island with a magical barrier. There was no consideration for laws or supplies or basic necessities. 

“The first children born on the Isle belonged to Gaston.” She directed that comment towards the whole group, but her eyes drifted towards Belle and Adam. She noticed the way Belle immediately stiffened at the man’s name, and Adam clenched his jaw. “Twin boys named Gaston Jr. and Gaston Third. Even their names should show you exactly how he raised them. Not too long after, Captain Hook’s daughter CJ came along. Once they were born, it became a competition to see who could produce an heir. All of the villains wanted to have a child to carry on their legacy, despite the fact that they already didn’t have enough resources. Most of the children on the Isle only know one parent because in the beginning, children were like currency. They had nothing to trade, so they would make agreements and have children to seal those agreements. 

“Out of the four of us, Jay was born first. Evie came two months later, and I was born a week after her, and then Carlos was born a month and a half after me. None of us know who our other parent is. 

“As soon as I was old enough to talk, I was old enough for my mother to manipulate me.” Mal explained. “She is the person in power on the Isle. She has the most territory, and she is the most powerful of all the villains. She decided from the day I was born that she was going to make me as evil as her so that I could help her keep her spot as the leader. 

“Like Jay and Carlos told you, there were times that my mother would beat me. But her abuse of choice was more mental abuse. Until I came to Auradon, I had no idea that there was a name for it, but we’ve been going to therapy and it has helped me see that. Maleficent would get into my head and force me to do things to prove that I was evil, but none of it was ever good enough. I spent my entire life trying to gain her approval and show her that I could be just as bad as her. I started my own crew, and the four of us did a lot of jobs for her. I hurt people so that our territory wouldn’t be taken. I brought my crew to attack people on drop off days so we could get the best supplies- Carlos needed the tech, Jay needed things for his father, and Evie needed beauty items to keep her mother happy. We had to be ruthless and wicked and strong for so long, and at the time, we didn’t know any better. But now, we’re paying the price for it.” 

Mal had to stop for a moment. She felt Evie’s hand slip out of her grasp and the blue haired girl squeezed her thigh instead. Mal knew that a big part of her story was her relationship with Evie, and even though she didn’t know how they were going to react, she needed to tell them. 

“I was six when I met Evie. Our mothers would meet up in the market, and the two of us would run through the stands and terrorize everyone together. Even with how little I was, I knew that Evie was different. I had only ever been taught that love and friendship and relationships were bad, but my connection with her was instant. We met Carlos and Jay not too long after, and for the first time, we felt what we had been missing from our parents- love. 

“On the Isle, love is considered weakness. There are no relationships. People can fuck whoever they want, but they can’t be seen together in public because then you are exposing something that people can use against you to hurt you.” Mal looked at Evie again and gave her a small smile. “I wasn’t allowed to have any type of connection with anyone, and Evie was being groomed by her mother to find a prince. But for as long as I can remember, it’s been me and Evie. 

“When I first started our crew, my mother questioned me on why I chose Evie, Jay, and Carlos. She was especially skeptical of Evie, and I told her that she was smart and could be put into any situation, and I was right. When we were 12, we started a relationship secretly, and in that moment, I knew that she was it for me. 

“Evie’s mother found out about us first, and she didn’t react well.” Mal grimaced at the memory. She wasn’t sure if she should explain it, or let Evie tell that part. She decided to just move on from it. “I was the most powerful person from our generation because of my mother, and I knew that I needed to protect Evie from all of them. I started to kiss her and hold her hand in the market in front of everyone so that I could claim her. Her mother wasn’t happy about it, and when my mother found out, she accused me of falling in love. I had to tell her that I was only taking care of my crew and that I didn’t feel anything for Evie.” Mal couldn’t resist bringing their joined hands up to her lips and pressing a quick kiss to the back of Evie’s hand. 

“I’ve done a lot of messed up things.” Mal admitted. “I’ve had to hurt people to protect myself and the people I care about, and I’ve had to hurt people because that’s what my mother expected me to do. The only time she ever showed interest in me was when I was hurting other people.” 

She looked at each of the royals sitting in front of her. They all were listening and actually seemed to be understanding what she was saying to them. They weren’t judging or getting upset about her being evil, or about her relationship with Evie. Mal truly hoped that they were going to take all of this into consideration and let the VK Exchange Program be expanded. 

“It wasn’t until we came to Auradon that I was able to see that I’m not a bad person. I’ve done some horrible things, but I never enjoyed it. I did what I had to do to stay alive and to keep my friends alive. I never want to hurt another person again or be forced to do someone’s dirty work. All I want is to take care of my family and love my girlfriend and play Tourney and go to school, the same things that your children have gotten to experience.” Mal cocked her head to the side. “Don’t the kids on the Isle deserve that too?” 

She could see a few of the adults in the room nodding along with her statement and it made her stomach flip. Maybe there was actually a chance this could work. 

“Evie is going to tell her story next.” Mal informed them. “It’s really hard for her to share this with you all, but she wants to help the kids on the Isle. Some parts are rough and she might need help from the rest of us to explain it. I just want you to know now that if things get too hard for her, I’m taking her out of the room.” She reached up and brushed a couple loose hairs behind her girlfriend’s ear. “We’re ready when you are, Princess.” 

Evie looked like she was about to throw up. So far, things had been going pretty well. Mal was surprised by how attentive and responsive the council had been as her, Jay, and Carlos confessed their dark histories. She knew a lot of things had been skipped over and they only really explained the basics. 

“My name is Evie.” Her girlfriend began. Mal tried not to reach out and grab her when she heard how shaky her voice sounded. Her heart was aching for her girl right now. She knew this was going to be difficult. 

“Like the others said, I only grew up with one parent. I have no idea who my father is, and my mother never spoke about him. When the villains started having children, she was set on having a daughter. She slept with Captain James Hook, and got pregnant shortly after. The two of them made an agreement- if it was a boy, Captain Hook would take him, and if it was a girl, the Evil Queen would raise her. This was really common on the Isle, and a lot of villains got together to have children. They ended up having a son, a boy they named Harry, and he was given to Captain Hook. 

“My mother went out looking again and found another man, and I was born eleven months later. Like Mal said, in the beginning, kids were used almost as currency. But the most powerful villains were smart enough to only have one or maybe two children. They understood that there weren’t a lot of resources and it was important to keep the population down. Many of the lesser known villains or those put on the Isle for smaller crimes didn’t have this same thought. They were bored, so they had unprotected sex and ended up having children. A lot of kids die very early on.” 

“Do you know why, dear?” Fairy Godmother interrupted. 

Mal stepped in, letting Evie have a break for a minute. “There are a lot of reasons. Exposure to illnesses with no doctors or medicine, being neglected by their parents, starvation, drinking dirty water that has dangerous bacteria, some of the eviler villains would abuse their children, and some abandon them. There are so many children living on the streets because their parents threw them out.” 

“How old were they?” Ariel asked. 

“They are as young as two, maybe three.” Mal snapped back. “Don’t talk about it in the past tense because it’s still happening today. You wouldn’t believe how many little kids are thrown out and have to beg for someone to take pity on them and give them food or water or a place to stay.” 

“So they’re just over there living on the streets?” Belle said in shock. 

“Some of them. If they are able to be useful, they may be taken in by other people. Evie and Carlos did their best with giving the kids a place to stay, but there was only so much they could do.” 

Adam looked at the two VKs in surprise. “You helped the children?” 

“They’re helpless little kids.” Evie responded. “A lot of people just walked past them as if they didn’t even notice they were there, but we couldn’t. Our crew took over a warehouse and started to protect it so that children could stay there. The hardest part was feeding them, but we did our best.”

Fairy Godmother reached over Mal to touch Evie’s shoulder. “Go ahead with your story, Evie. Tell them about your childhood.” 

Evie nodded and sighed. Mal reached out and rubbed her lower back, trying to provide her a little bit of comfort. 

“My childhood was actually pretty decent in comparison to many of the other VKs.” Evie informed the council. “My mother took great care of me. She worked for Maleficent, so she had some power on the Isle. She was able to get enough food and water, and I even had some toys. She kept me safe and watched out for me. 

“When I was six, she started to bring me into town with her. Our castle was in the woods, right next to Carlos’s. There was a large market that is pretty much the most important part of the Isle, and that’s where a lot of people set up their shops or go to cause trouble. My mother would meet with Maleficent, and that is where Mal and I met each other and started playing together. We met Jay and Carlos not too long after, and that’s when I started to notice some things were different. Their parents never took their food away because they had eaten too much. They didn’t have to stay clean all the time, or make sure they were quiet around boys, or have to wear special makeup and dresses. 

“My mother taught me how to apply blush before I could talk. As soon as I learned how to walk, she gave me my first pair of heels. By the time I was seven, I could cook full meals, do a full face of makeup, sew my own clothes, and I knew how to clean a castle. My mother would constantly read stories about princes and princesses, and all she ever talked about was me growing up and finding a perfect prince. As far as she was concerned, I was a princess, and she forced everyone on the Isle to treat me like one.”

Mal reached out and squeezed Evie’s hand. She couldn’t wait until this was over. Evie was already getting the glazed over look in her eyes that she tended to get right before she sank back into a memory. She could see her leg bouncing underneath the table. 

“When I was eight, my mother gave me a journal for my birthday. Every morning, I would wake up and go through my entire beauty routine. After I was dressed for the day, I would have to write in my journal what I liked about myself that day, and what I didn’t like. Then, my mother would come in and read it and she would write corrections, telling me that everything I liked wasn’t perfect enough to get a prince and that I needed to be better. That same year, she started to get on me about my weight. She would cut down my portion sizes until they were almost nonexistent, and then she started cutting out meals altogether. She had a very specific idea of what a princess was supposed to look like, and in her eyes, I was never good enough.” 

Mal watched as Evie started to pinch her right wrist with her left hand. She reached out and intertwined their fingers so Evie couldn’t hurt herself. At the physical contact, Evie seemed to snap out of it a bit. She looked at Mal. 

“Take a second and breathe.” She whispered, hoping not to draw attention from any of the royals.

After taking a few deep breaths, Evie resumed her story. “None of that ever changed. Up until the last day I was living in my mother’s castle, she was monitoring my weight and holding me to ridiculously high beauty standards. Almost every day, she told me that I had gained too much and that a prince only wants a tiny princess. I wasn’t allowed to weigh over one hundred pounds.” 

Evie stood up and Mal watched her curiously, wondering if she had reached her limit and needed a break. She was surprised when instead, Evie unbuttoned her pants and pulled them down to expose her hip, then lifted her shirt up. 

“As you know, my mother was a witch. She was fascinated with chemicals and potions, and she was still able to make a lot of them on the Isle. She was always looking for beauty remedies and ways to make herself look younger, and to make me look perfect. When she weighed me and saw that I was in the triple digits, she poured acid on me to try and burn the fat off.” Mal let her eyes shut when she heard the rest of the room gasp. Even Ben looked like he was about to be sick. “She realized that it scarred, so she never tried acid again.” 

Evie buttoned her pants back up and fixed her shirt. Mal reached out for her hand and when she tried to sit, she pulled her over to sit on her lap instead. She was worried that Evie would shy away from being affectionate in front of the royals, but she actually seemed to relax a little bit. Mal wrapped an arm around her waist and Evie put her hand on top of hers, intertwining their fingers. 

“The next part is going to be hard.” Evie informed them. “I just want you to prepare yourselves.” 

“If you’re not comfortable, you don’t have to keep going.” Surprisingly, it was Snow White who spoke up. Mal knew that Evie had never met her, and that growing up, many of her mother’s expectations were forced on her because that’s how her former stepdaughter had looked. Mal stared at Snow’s tiny waist, short stature, and smooth skin and felt anger fill her at the fact that Grimhilde had tried to force Evie to be like her. In Mal’s eyes, Evie was ten times more beautiful than the black haired woman and she was glad that her girlfriend had been able to remain as naturally perfect as she was, despite her mother’s attempts to change her. 

“I wish I didn’t have to, but it’s important.” Evie said, her voice sounding a little choked up. “This is something that so many people on the Isle have to deal with, and you need to know. You have to know what is happening because of these kids being locked up with violent criminals.” 

Mal squeezed Evie a little tighter, knowing exactly what she was going to be talking about next. She just hoped that Evie could get through this and come out stronger for it instead of sinking into a memory that would send her reeling for the next couple of days. 

“When I was 12, Mal and I officially started dating.” Evie began. “I know it sounds childish to you, and you’re probably imagining us hardly talking to each other and just saying we’re in a relationship because we wanted to sound more mature. But with Mal and I, it was never like that.” She turned her head slightly to make eye contact with the purple haired girl, who leaned forward and kissed her shoulder. “Earlier when Jay said that you’re treated like an adult as soon as you can go out on your own, he wasn’t exaggerating. We experience things a lot quicker than the kids in Auradon. I had my first kiss when I was 10 with a man who was at least twice my age during a scheme we were running for Maleficent. We drank for the first time when we were, what, 9?” she asked her friends, who nodded in confirmation. “Mal and Jay could stay out all night, and sometimes their parents would insist on it so they could get a job done for them. They started sneaking me and Carlos out with them, and we would hang out with kids our age and people much older until morning when I would have to sneak back in my castle. The point of this is to tell you that even though Mal and I were only 12, we weren’t treated like it. 

“We had to keep it hidden that we were dating. The only other people who knew were Jay and Carlos. My mother would have never, ever accepted the fact that I was dating anyone who wasn’t a prince, especially knowing it was a girl.” 

“I wasn’t allowed to have feelings.” Mal added. “Love wasn’t allowed on the Isle for anyone, and if you showed that you loved someone, they were guaranteed to be used against you. We were all taught to be evil, and evil people were convinced that love is weakness. My mother already questioned the fact that I had Evie in my crew, so if she found out we were spending time alone together, she would have had her killed with zero hesitation.” 

“When we were 13, Mal and I were in my room one day. My mother was gone and wasn’t supposed to be back for a long time.” Evie began, her hands already starting to shake. Mal used her free hand to rub soothing circles into Evie’s thigh, trying to keep her grounded. “We were making out, and we got a little carried away. Neither of us had had sex yet, but we had touched above the waist, which believe it or not, was actually pretty slow for an Isle relationship. Mal was kissing my neck and she had her hands up my shirt when my mom walked into the room.” 

Mal watched Evie’s face, seeing the way her demeanor changed. Before, she had been anxious, but she was doing okay. Mal knew that now, she was going to be fighting a panic attack until she was finished with her story. Evie had never been able to talk about any of this without a terrible reaction, and even though she was starting to discuss it in therapy, there was no way she has accepted her past enough to where she could comfortably talk about it. 

Mal wanted so badly to just gloss over it and give the main point of this, but like Evie said, this was important. The council needed to sit and hear the consequences of their actions. 

“When she saw us, she immediately yanked my arm and pulled me off the bed.” Evie said, her eyes focused on the table instead of the people sitting in front of her. “She slapped me across the face; I had made her mad so many times, but she never hit me. Princesses couldn’t have bruises or marks or any type of scars.” She turned towards Mal and grabbed her chin. “She liked to grab me by my chin, like this. Her nails were really long, and she would dig them into my face, sometimes hard enough to leave a bruise, but never hard enough to puncture my skin and scar it.” She let go of Mal’s chin, leaning forward for a second to kiss it in a silent apology, to which Mal squeezed her hand in return to let her know it was alright. “She said she knew what she saw because there was no confusing her daughter spread on the bed like a slut. I had a tiny mark on my neck, and she said I was marked up like a whore.” Evie bit her lip. “That was the first time she ever called me a slut or a whore, and after that, it became one of her favorite insults. I was fat or ugly or a slut or a whore or a dyke.” 

Mal looked around the room to see their reactions. Fairy Godmother was nearly in tears, but sitting up tall and supportive. Ben looked like he was about to be sick, and Jay and Carlos were watching them, their eyes showing their anger because of what the Evil Queen had done to their princess. The royals’ faces were in varying degrees of shock, disgust, and sadness. 

“She made me get completely naked, and then she locked me in a closet for a week with no food or water. She said I had to stay there until I didn’t look like a whore anymore.” She paused for a second. “When she finally let me out, she asked if I was still thinking about Mal. I didn’t answer, but she must have known I was. She told me it was time for the next step in my training, and that if I wanted to be a whore, I was at least going to be useful.” Evie’s eyes drifted up, landing straight on King Adam’s. “She said I was going to fuck the gay away. For two years, my mother would let men come into my room and fuck me in exchange for material items, like bracelets or materials or shoes. I don’t even know how many men I fucked because it happened so often. No matter how much I begged or screamed, they wouldn’t stop. My mother would yell at me for not pleasing them well enough.”

“Evie.” Mal heard Dr. Bren’s voice. She had totally forgotten the therapist was there until she stood up and came around the table, kneeling down in front of the chair Evie and Mal were sitting in. “Sweetheart, do you remember what we talked about in therapy?” 

Mal heard Evie’s shaky inhale of breath and knew it was only a matter of seconds before she started crying. “Mmhmm.” 

Dr. Bren reached out and held her hand. “None of that was your fault. Can you say that for me?” 

“None of it was my fault.” Evie mumbled out through her tears. The absolute heartbreak and devastation in her girlfriend’s voice made Mal’s eyes fill with tears. “The men…I didn’t fuck them.” Evie said through a sob. “They…they raped me.”

At that, most of the royals actually started crying. Mal could see tears pouring down Anna’s and Snow White’s cheeks, while a few couples turned and hugged each other. The men in the room looked sick to their stomachs, but no one looked more devastated than Adam. 

“That’s why you said it was my fault.” He said quietly, then looked at Mal. “On the day Evie told us about her child, you said that everything that happened to you all was my fault because of the island I created.” He looked at each of the VKs. “You were right.” 

Mal had always hoped to hear those words from the King of Auradon. For sixteen years, they had been abused and starved and forced to do horrible things because of the rules made by King Adam. But now that he had actually said them, she didn’t feel any better. Her heart still ached, tears still slid down her cheeks, and Evie still sobbed on her lap. 

She knew exactly where her attention needed to be right now, and it wasn’t on Ben’s father. 

“Shhh, deep breaths, baby.” Mal turned Evie so that she could see her face. She knew there was no coming back from this. There was more to Evie’s story, but she wouldn’t be telling it right now. Evie’s breaths were coming in short pants as she struggled to regulate her breathing. As she tried to calm her down, she heard Naveen’s shocked voice. 

“She has a child?”

Mal made a quick decision that it was time to get the hell out of there. She shifted Evie, then lifted her up as she stood. Mal carried her out of the room, ignoring the stares of everyone around her, and took her into the conference room down the hall. 

When she opened the door, Lonnie and Audrey looked up in surprise. She could see that Ellie was sleeping. Mal brought Evie over to one of the small couches in the room and set her down, then dropped to her knees in front of her. 

“Hey baby girl, it’s time to calm down, okay? It’s over.” She rested their foreheads together and brought one of Evie’s hands up to rest over her heart. “I need you to take some deep breaths for me, my love. Close your eyes and focus on your breathing.” 

Evie was still crying, but she did calm down a little bit. Mal just kept talking her through the panic attack, rubbing her back soothingly as she helped her regulate her breathing. When Evie finally calmed down, she practically collapsed against Mal. 

“You’re so brave, do you know that?” she kissed her forehead. “You did such an amazing job today, E.” 

“I don’t wanna go back in there.” Evie whimpered. 

“You’re not, baby, I promise you’re not.” Mal rushed to assure her before she got upset again. She moved so that she could sit on the couch next to her girlfriend. “Just close your eyes and rest for a minute.” 

Evie moved so that she could rest her head on Mal’s lap, then curl her legs up in the fetal position. Mal stroked her fingers through her girlfriend’s hair as she did her best to follow her own advice and take some deep breaths. 

\-----

Ben didn’t know what to do to control this situation. He knew what Evie would have to talk about today, and he knew it was going to be intense. He hadn’t expected her to have a full on panic attack and his heart literally ached for her after seeing how much she struggled. 

He looked around the room, trying to figure out where to go from here. Fairy Godmother and Dr. Bren were talking to Jay and Carlos, obviously checking in with the boys and making sure that they were okay. His father was in tears, his mother was crying but trying her best to keep her composure, and nearly every royal in the room looked heartbroken. He knew that if there was a time to act, it was now. 

“The VK Exchange Program was barely voted in.” he announced to the room. It became so quiet that you could have heard a pin drop. “I can admit that I was a little nervous about it, and the possibility that something could go wrong. But I pushed through that and reminded myself that these were innocent children who were being punished because of crimes that their parents committed. You told me I could only bring over four children.” 

Ben looked at the council. He wasn’t used to having their full attention. Most of the time, they just viewed him as the silly little prince, but right now, they were actually listening. 

“Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos have adapted to life in Auradon quickly. They have had very little issue since they arrived here, and the most major incident was caused by an Auradon child.” Ben looked pointedly towards Cinderella and Prince Charming, who at least had the decency to look ashamed, especially after hearing about Evie’s past. “They go to therapy weekly and participate in their sessions, right Dr. Bren?” 

The therapist nodded her head. “I have seen incredible progress in all four of the children. They have opened up about their parents’ abuse, how they felt living on the Isle, and how much life has changed since coming to Auradon. They are all beginning to come to terms with how they grew up, and they are working hard to be conscious of how their past affects them now.” 

“You said that Evie has a child.” Snow White interrupted, looking towards Adam. “What were you talking about?” 

“That’s not something we’re going to discuss without Evie.” Ben answered. “We can get to that later. Since coming to Auradon, they have done great in school. Fairy Godmother can attest to that.” 

Fairy Godmother nodded in agreement. “There have been a few hiccups that resulted in a few days of missed school, but nothing major. The children have stayed out of trouble and they truly put in effort to do well in their classes. Mal is in a Magical Control class with me, and she is honing her skills and getting better at controlling them. Carlos is excellent with computers, and he has excelled in all school subjects. Jay joined the Tourney team and he is the current lead scorer for the Auradon Fighting Knights. Evie is at the top of her class in chemistry, and she can sew better than some of the best paid seamstresses. These teenagers have no desire to cause trouble or act out. They just want to live a better life than the one they had on the Isle.” 

“As they have told you, their stories aren’t unique.” Ben took over again. “There are so many more children on the Isle who have lived through similar horrors. Children the same age as Audrey,” he looked at his girlfriend’s parents, “or Lonnie” he directed towards Mulan and Shang, “or Doug or Melody or Aziz or even fucking Chad!” he couldn’t help but get a little upset. “These children deserve to be safe. They shouldn’t have to be worrying about how much food they have or fighting wars over territory. They should be going to school, playing Tourney, and going shopping.” 

Elsa was the first to nod along, then Tiana and Naveen, and then Rapunzel and Flynn. Ben felt a little more hopeful. Was this really working? 

“The United States of Auradon created the Isle of the Lost. This council decided that children born to villains would stay on the Isle. Now, it is time for us to fix this. We need to bring more children over from the Isle.” He could see a couple of them were about to speak. “I’ll give you some time to thing about this.” He looked at the boys. “Jay, Carlos…” he nodded towards them, then started to walk towards the door, knowing they were following. 

They walked into the conference room. Audrey and Lonnie were sitting in chairs with Ellie sleeping near them on a little couch. He looked over and saw that Mal was sitting on the other couch with Evie curled up beside her, her head resting on her lap.

“We’re done for the day.” Mal stated, leaving no room for argument. 

“Of course.” Ben agreed. “Where do you think we go from here? Do we want Evie to talk to the council about Ellie? Or do you think they’ve heard enough?” 

“That’s up to her.” He watched as Mal’s fingers stroked through Evie’s long, blue hair. He noticed that her hands were shaking. 

“Ben just killed it in there.” Jay informed the group. “He had FG and Dr. Bren vouch for us, then he called them all out for causing this problem in the first place.”

“He even said ‘fuck’.” Carlos added. 

Ben felt his face flush at that. “Yeah, sorry, I…” 

“Don’t apologize.” Mal interrupted. “I’m glad you felt so passionate.” She cracked a small smile. 

Ben felt an arm wrap around his waist from behind. “I’m proud of you.” Audrey told him quietly. 

But the future king just shook his head. “They still haven’t agreed to expand the program. There is still work to be done.” 

“We’ll do it tomorrow then.” Jay said. “I don’t know about you guys, but I’m starving. We should get some food.” 

Lonnie, Audrey, and Carlos voiced their agreement. Ben looked over at Mal, who was still staring down at Evie. 

“Do you guys want to go?” Ben asked gently. 

Mal shook her head no. “She probably won’t be eating. Besides that, she needs the rest.” 

“Let us walk you guys back to the dorm first.” Carlos said. “We can bring you back something, Mal.” 

“Okay.” She agreed. “Let me wake her up.” 

“I’ve got her.” Jay told her before she could try. He leaned down and scooped Evie up easily, cradling the girl’s head until she rested it against his shoulder. “C, will you grab her coat and drape it over her?” 

Carlos did as he asked, picking up Evie’s coat and putting it over her like a blanket. Ben watched as Mal carefully slid Ellie’s arms into her coat, then lifted her up too. Audrey, Lonnie, and Carlos grabbed the rest of their stuff and they walked out of the room together. 

Ben walked quickly to catch up to Mal. “I just want you to know that this is your choice. If Evie doesn’t want to tell them anything else, I get it. I don’t want to hurt her.” 

“You’re not hurting her.” Mal reassured him. “She was hurt by her mother, and by those men. I know that it sucks watching her relive it, but I’m actually surprised by how well she did. I didn’t think she would make it that far into things before she got upset.” She smoothed a hand over Ellie’s hair, making sure her daughter was still sleeping. “Do you want to know how I can tell she’s going to be okay? Today was the first time I have ever heard Evie admit to the fact that she was raped. For three years, I have been trying to get her to see that she did not fuck those men. Dr. Bren and FG are the ones who got her to the point where she could say that, and I will always be grateful to them for it. Tomorrow, if Evie wants to talk, then I’ll walk in that room and sit next to her and help her through it. If she says she doesn’t, then I’m not forcing her or trying to talk her into it.” 

“Okay.” Ben agreed. 

It only took a few minutes for them to arrive at the girls’ dorm. Jay carefully set Evie down on one of the beds; Ben was surprised that she hadn’t woken up at all. Mal went over and set Ellie down in her crib, then came over to her girlfriend. She started to pull Evie’s shoes off. 

“Do you want us to bring you something specific?” Carlos wondered. 

Mal shook her head. “I don’t care, you can bring whatever.” She didn’t even look in his direction as she tossed Evie’s shoes on the ground, then moved up to her arms. She carefully removed all of her bracelets, then unhooked her necklace. 

“Text us if you need anything.” Ben couldn’t help but say. He still felt so guilty about Evie clearly being so mentally exhausted from this meeting that she was passed out. 

“Thanks.” Her hands went towards the zipper on Evie’s pants and Ben turned around, leading the way towards the door.

He just had to trust Mal when she said that Evie would be okay. 

\-----

When Evie’s eyes fluttered open, she was confused. All she saw was darkness, and she couldn’t remember what had happened when she fell asleep. 

It took a few seconds, but it all came back to her. She had been telling the council about her past. She had a panic attack and Mal had to carry her into the conference room. 

“Hey, it’s okay.” Evie heard her girlfriend’s voice and it instantly calmed her down. She felt Mal press a kiss against her forehead and she realized that she was laying on her chest. Evie scooted up so that her head could rest on the pillow next to Mal’s. 

“How did we get back here?” 

“You fell asleep in the conference room.” Mal said, reaching out to stroke her cheeks. As Evie’s eyes adjusted to the darkness, she was able to focus on Mal’s face. “Jay carried you back here.” 

“What happened at the meeting after I…” she trailed off, too embarrassed to say that she had freaked out. 

“Carlos and Jay said that Ben was talking to the council about us and telling them about how well we were doing. Apparently he even said ‘fuck’.” 

Evie couldn’t help but smile at that. “Ben? As in Prince Ben?” 

“Yeah, same boy who blushed when he tried to explain that someone had said the word ‘bitch’.” Mal replied. “Can I tell you something?” 

Evie scooted a little closer to her. She always loved to be close to Mal, especially after something big happened. “Always.” 

“I’m so fucking proud of you, baby girl.” Mal leaned in and kissed the tip of Evie’s nose. “You did such an amazing job.” 

“I cried and I had a panic attack.” 

“But you lasted for so long before that happened. When we first got here, you wouldn’t have even attempted to talk about your past, and now you just told the council what happened. You’re really going to make a difference, E. When they agree to let more Isle kids come over, it’s going to be because of you.” 

Evie shook her head. “You did a good job too. So did the boys.” 

“I just hope it was all good enough.” Mal stroked her hair behind her ears. “How are you feeling?”

“I’m really tired.” Evie confessed. 

“Let’s get some more sleep.” 

“But what about tomorrow? I never finished, and Adam mentioned Ellie.” 

“That’s up to you. Ben said if you want to finish, you can, and if you don’t want to, then that’s okay too.” Mal kissed her forehead. “You don’t have to decide right now. Get some sleep and we’ll talk about it in the morning.” 

“Okay.” Evie cuddled closer to her. “Goodnight, my love.” 

Mal gave her a soft kiss. “Sweet dreams, Pretty Girl.” 

\-----

When Evie woke up, she knew exactly what she was going to do. 

She had already told so much of her story, so what did a little more matter? She was going to go in there and talk about Ellie because she wanted these royals to know that even though so many horrible things happened to her, she could still be happy. She wanted them to know that she was proud to be Ellie’s mother. 

Ellie started to whimper and Evie went over to pick her up. She glanced at the clock, seeing that it was a little after 7am. Her breasts were uncomfortably full and her t-shirt was wet since she slept through two of Ellie’s feeds. She pulled her shirt off and went over to sit on the couch, helping her daughter latch onto her breast. 

“I’m going to make you proud of me.” Evie whispered to her. “I’m going to walk in that room and tell them that you are the best thing that has ever happened to me. I’m going to tell this story so that no other little girls get hurt the way I did, and so no other babies are born to young mommies who aren’t ready for them.”

Evie sat in silence while Ellie ate. It took her a while, but the eight month old drifted back to sleep. Evie put her back in her crib, then grabbed her phone. She typed out a text message, then sent it. 

_To: Ben  
I want to finish. When can we do it? _

_From: Ben  
Can you be ready by 9am?_

Evie was a little surprised that he had responded so quickly, but she guessed he had other princely duties to attend to that had him up this early. She responded that nine would work, then went into the bathroom to do her hair and makeup. 

She was nearly done with her hair when a reflection in the mirror caught her eye. She felt two arms wrap around her waist and a kiss pressed against the back of her neck. 

“You’re gonna finish?” Mal asked. 

“Yeah. Ben said we can meet at 9am. I just want to get it over with.” 

Mal grabbed her shoulder and turned her around so she could face her. “I’m so proud of you. You’re incredible, you know that?” 

Evie shook her head. “I just want to help the other kids on the Isle.” 

Mal leaned in and gave her a kiss. Evie parted her lips, allowing Mal to deepen the kiss. They stood there for a while, just getting lost in each other until finally, they needed to breathe. 

“Evie?” Mal questioned after a moment. 

“Hmmm?” 

“Are you happy?” 

Evie truly thought about that question. It hadn’t been fun talking about her past yesterday, and she knew it was going to be hard today. But it definitely wasn’t the worst thing that had ever happened to her. She was safe, she had been having a lot of good days lately, eating wasn’t horrible, Ellie was safe and healthy, and her relationship with Mal had never been better.

“Yeah, M. I think I am.” 

Mal smiled and rested their foreheads together. “Me too.”

It didn’t take long for them to finish getting ready. Mal called Audrey and had her come over to watch Ellie since the boys insisted on going with them today. Right when Audrey showed up, they gave her instructions on what to do and then walked out the door. 

They showed up right at 9. Evie was a little surprised that the council had gathered together so quickly, but everyone was there and sitting in the same seats as yesterday. Even FG and Dr. Bren had arrived already. 

Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos took the same seats they had been in yesterday. Ben looked to Evie and offered her a small smile, which she returned. 

“Evie is going to finish telling you her story today.” Ben announced. “While she’s talking, I hope you will all be respectful and not interrupt. Maybe if they are comfortable, they will answer any questions at the very end, but for now, we are just going to listen. You can’t even imagine how difficult this all is for Evie and the others, so please keep that in mind.” He looked at the blue haired girl. “Evie, we’re ready when you are.” 

Evie reached over, holding her hand out towards Mal. Her girlfriend took it without hesitation, squeezing tightly. Evie squeezed back, then took a deep breath. 

“Yesterday, I told you about how my mom would trade me for material items.” Evie continued right where she left off. She figured it would be easiest to just jump right back in and get it over with. “This started when I was 13. Any time I made her upset, she would bring someone to the castle. If she heard about me being with Mal, she would bring someone to the castle. Eventually it got to the point that if I didn’t do my chores fast enough, she would bring someone to the castle.” 

Mal stopped her for a moment. “Right around this time is when my mother started to get really interested in forcing me to be just like her. She wanted me to be ruthless and to prove myself as being evil. I told her about how Evie, Jay, and Carlos were part of my gang and that’s why they were always around. On the Isle, the younger generation is really big on having a crew. You are loyal to a certain group of people and you prove that you can be trusted. Because we’re all working for our parents, your crew is usually made up of the children of your parents’ allies, plus other random people who are useful enough to join. I was the leader, so it was my job to keep my crew safe and to make sure we were able to keep our territory.” 

She glanced at Evie, who nodded towards her, giving her permission to keep talking. She knew exactly where Mal was going with this and she was happy that she took over since it would give her one less thing to talk about. 

“People started to talk about what the Evil Queen was doing to Evie. This gave a lot of younger boys the impression that Evie was willing to sleep with them. They would corner her in the market and try to hurt her. But everyone knew that my mother was in power, and that my crew had gained the most territory for her. If they saw me coming, they would run. I didn’t want to risk anyone hurting Evie, so I started to claim her. I would wait until a lot of people were around, and then I would kiss her or give her hickeys or hold her hand. Basically anything I could think of to mark her as mine so that people would be too scared to mess with her. It worked for the boys our age, and after they knew that Evie was mine, they didn’t bother her anymore. But her mother wasn’t happy.” 

Evie squeezed Mal’s hand, letting her know that she would take over from here. “My mother had allies who would come back to her and tell her that I was seen with Mal. Anytime she heard that I was with Mal, she would punish me by bringing a man into my room.” She looked at the council members. “I know it sounds crazy that I stayed with Mal. Every time she would touch me in public, I knew that I would get in trouble. But my mother was horrible towards me and she constantly forced me to do things that I didn’t want to do, even beyond using me. I love to read, but she would take books away and say that no prince wanted a girl with a brain. Chemistry is my favorite subject, but unless I was mixing a potion that could be used as a beauty remedy, she thought I was wasting my time. The only time I was ever able to be happy was when I was with Mal, Jay, and Carlos.” She looked towards Mal for a second. “I know you all probably think we’re just confused teenagers, but I love Mal with all of my heart. No matter what my mother did to me, nothing was going to take that feeling away, especially given the fact that I was so starved for affection since I never had parents to take care of me or love me. 

“As time passed, things started to get worse. At first, they weren’t allowed to leave any marks on me. Then, she gave them permission to leave hickeys and handprints so that I would be embarrassed when people saw me and they would know what I did. Eventually, it evolved into her letting them hit me, and then she started hitting me too.” 

“It got to the point where she was almost constantly covered in bruises.” Mal interjected. 

“My ribs were messed up a lot.” Evie added. “Black eyes, my neck was always purple, I had a concussion.” 

“We did our best to take care of her, but it started happening more frequently.” Mal said, her eyes meeting Evie’s. Evie knew that this is where she should mention Quinton, but she had already decided that he wasn’t going to be part of this conversation. They were trying to prove that the younger generation wasn’t bad, and if they heard that one of them bought her and abused her, that would cause some doubt. 

“One day, my mother caught me trying to go to see Mal.” Evie took over again. This was going to be difficult. She had never really said this out loud before, and she hadn’t talked about it in therapy yet. “I was so mad that I finally just snapped and told her that unless she killed me, I would keep going back to Mal. I was already pretty weak, and she hit me. She dragged me back to the castle and made me get undressed, then told me she had a special lesson.” Evie did her best to try not to react too strongly to this story. She picked a spot on the wall and just stared forward, trying to zone out as much as possible so she didn’t have another panic attack. 

“There was a man on the Isle that went after women. I had never met him before, and I don’t know his name. But everyone always talked about him and how brutal he was.” Evie swallowed hard, trying to keep herself together. Mal leaned over and wrapped an arm around her waist. “She said that she didn’t want to ruin me too much, so she hadn’t brought him yet, but I needed to be taught a lesson. She said that she was going to let him tear me apart, then go get Mal so she could see what I let him do to me.” 

Evie’s eyes shut tightly as she fought against the memory. Out of everything that happened to her, this was the hardest. She felt Mal pulling against her arm and opened her eyes. Mal moved her so she could sit on her lap again. She slid one hand under her shirt, rubbing in gentle circles against her stomach. The other one went to her back, running her fingers up and down soothingly. She took a deep breath. She could do this. 

“Eventually, he fell asleep.” Evie stated. She had never told anyone the specific details of what happened with these men, and she never would. She didn’t know if she could ever look Mal in the eyes again if her girlfriend knew all the things she had done. “He was on top of me, and I knew that I had to get out of there or I would be dead. There was a knife on the side of my bed and I took it out, then stabbed it into his back as hard as I could.” 

She heard a few people gasp in surprise, one of them being Fairy Godmother. Evie looked down in shame; obviously the headmistress knew she had murdered her own mother, but now she knew that she had killed another person. She probably thought that Evie was a monster. 

“I didn’t have any other choice.” Evie pleaded with them, trying to keep the tears from falling down her cheeks. “My mother was going to keep torturing me over and over again. In all my life, that was the most scared I had ever been. I truly didn’t think I was ever going to get out of there. So I had to kill him, and then I climbed out my window and ran as fast as I could towards where I knew my friends would be. I hadn’t eaten in days and I was really out of it. I ran into Uma, Harry, and Gil.” 

“Uma is the daughter of Ursula.” Mal interrupted, making Evie sigh in relief. It gave her a second to take some breaths and try to calm herself down before she continued her story. “She is the leader of another crew, and our biggest rival. Her two closest friends are Gil and Harry, who is Evie’s older brother. The two of them didn’t grow up together, but they do know each other and get together every so often. Uma and I don’t get along, but she’s always had a soft spot for Evie.” 

“I don’t really remember a lot of it.” Evie admitted, now a little calmer. “I know that I was scared and that Harry picked me up and I ended up passing out in his arms. Gil ran to get Mal, Jay, and Carlos while Uma and Harry took me to their place. When I woke up, I was still really out of it. I was terrified and I didn’t understand why I was with Uma. I, um…I grabbed a knife off of a table and tried to kill myself.” 

At that admission, the entire conference room went silent. Evie couldn’t bring herself to look at Dr. Bren or Fairy Godmother. After they heard this, she knew there would be no way she was ever going to get to stop going to therapy. 

“Uma did her best talk me down, but I wasn’t listening. I was holding the knife up to my stomach and then Mal busted in. She twisted my wrist until I let go of the knife, and then she just held me and let me cry until I fell asleep.” She looked at Mal sadly, who leaned forward and kissed her cheek. 

“You’re doing so good.” She whispered into her ear. “Do you want me to take over?” 

Evie shook her head no. “We stayed the night on Uma’s ship. Mal and the boys helped me clean up, and then I told them what happened. They got me calmed down and we just laid together for the entire night. After that, I never went back to my mother’s. We had a special hideout that no one knew where it was, and I started to live there. Mal, Jay, and Carlos would come spend the night whenever they could, and they always made sure one of them was with me so I didn’t have to be alone. 

“Once I killed that man, I didn’t know how to handle it. I drank a lot and I was really angry because I felt so guilty for what happened. But finally I started to accept it enough that I let Mal help me.” She tilted her head towards her girlfriend, letting her forehead touch Mal’s cheek for a moment. “Then, I started getting sick. I was really sore and tired all the time, and I didn’t understand what was happening. I finally realized I was pregnant, and I was devastated. I cried all the time and begged Mal to help me. For a while, I thought about getting rid of it. I was only 15 and I was so, so scared.” Evie cuddled closer to Mal, who held her even tighter. “But I knew that I couldn’t go through with it. I was terrified that I would be like my mother, or that I wouldn’t love my baby because of the horrible circumstances.” She squeezed Mal’s hand, trying to communicate to her that she needed a break. 

Of course, Mal immediately understood her. “We made an alliance with Uma’s crew. There are three main crews on the Isle, and we wanted to keep the third crew away. Uma and I teamed up to keep our territories safe. We were able to keep Evie away from her mother and everyone else. Then, the third crew started trouble right as Evie was getting close to having the baby. On the day they finally attacked us, Evie went into labor.” She looked at Evie and the blue haired girl was surprised by how much love was in her eyes. “She was so strong. There was literally a war going on outside the window, and Evie laid on the ground and did her best to be quiet as she struggled to push the baby out. There aren’t any doctors on the Isle, so we were on our own. I had to sit on the floor with my hand over her mouth to keep her quiet enough that the people outside wouldn’t hear her and figure out the location of our hideout. Finally, Carlos got there and we were able to deliver the baby.” 

“Her name is Gabriella Rain.” Evie informed them. “She has hair so black that it has a blue tint and light brown eyes, and she’s absolutely perfect. We were hidden away together for six months before we received letters inviting us to come to Auradon Prep. At first, we refused to come because we didn’t want to leave her behind. But then, Maleficent found out and told us we didn’t have a choice and we needed to leave. By this time, I hadn’t seen my mother in a year and three months, and I had no intention on seeing her again. We made a deal with Uma and Harry, and they agreed to take care of Ellie while we went to Auradon.

“You know that the four of us came over here and we started school and everything. We were all struggling to adjust, but I was definitely the worst out of the four of us.” Evie explained. “I had been through so much and just kept pushing it to the back of my mind and trying to keep it bottled in. I refused to eat, and I was an emotional wreck because I was separated from my daughter. Then, things weren’t so great with the kids here.” She looked up at Cinderella and Prince Charming as she spoke. She didn’t want them to feel guilty for their son’s actions, but she hoped they knew just how much it had affected her. “Eventually, I started working on things in therapy and I found out I have an eating disorder and anxiety, so Dr. Bren and FG helped me with that.” She offered a small smile towards the two women. “But then I came clean to Ben about my daughter. We had been in Auradon for two months, and the only reason we came was because we wanted to get her somewhere safe. We went to the Isle of the Lost to get her, and while we were there, my mother confronted us. She attacked me and held a knife to my throat.” 

“Evie acted in self defense and had to kill the Evil Queen.” Ben said, surprising Evie. She had honestly forgotten he was even there. “I was there when the entire thing happened. The way she spoke to Evie, how cold she was to her, and how she had no problem with hitting and grabbing her…there is no doubt it my mind that she would have killed Evie and then followed through on her threats and gone after Gabriella.” 

Evie picked up the story again, knowing she was almost finished now. “I was a wreck afterwards. Even though she was terrible and abusive and she hurt me in so many ways, she was still my mother. I’m still not over the fact that I killed her, and I feel like a terrible person. I know realistically that the only reason I’m alive right now is because she is gone, but it was the hardest thing I ever had to do.” Evie shivered slightly, then felt Mal rub her hands up and down her arms in response. “We brought Ellie over at the beginning of this month and she has been adjusting. It’s been difficult balancing school and a baby, but we’re managing. Despite the fact that she was born from something so terrible, Ellie is the best thing that has ever happened to me and I am so proud to be her mother.” 

“We both are.” Mal chimed in. “She’s the most amazing little girl in the world.” 

Quiet settled over the room as the final VK shared her story. They all waited, trying to see what the council would say first. 

“I hope now that you’ve heard their stories, you will understand why we need to bring more children over from the Isle. Every day that they are on that island, we are exposing them to more and more horrific events. They are being traumatized while we sit over here and turn a blind eye.” Ben announced. “It was never okay to abandon them, and it is especially not okay now that we know what they go through. It’s time to act.” 

“I agree.” Evie looked over, seeing that Elsa stood up, her sister Anna following seconds later. 

“So do we.” Tiana and Naveen stated as they stood. 

“Us too.” Flynn said for himself and Rapunzel, Ariel and Eric standing and nodding in agreement. 

One by one, each of the royal families voiced their agreement for expanding the VK Exchange Program. Evie felt her heart swell as these people actually considered their histories and tried to do something to stop this from repeating. They genuinely seemed to care about the children on the Isle. 

By the time they finished speaking, Ben had tears pouring down his cheeks. “Then it’s unanimous. The VK Exchange Program will officially be bringing more Isle children to Auradon.”


	41. Hard Truths

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Thank you for all the comments on the last chapter! I'm happy you all liked hearing the VKs finally confess their stories to the Auradon Council! 
> 
> Let me know what you think of this one! Anything you want to see before this story wraps up?

_On a normal night, the two girls would be walking tall and proud. Sometimes, they held hands when they were trying to make it clear that no one should mess with them. But most of the time, they didn’t touch in fear of what their parents would do to retaliate._

_Tonight, Evie was cuddled into Mal’s side, the purple haired girl’s arm around her waist. They walked together, sticking to the shadows; after all, no one had seen Evie in fifteen months and they couldn’t blow her cover now._

_“Stay close to me.” Mal murmured, keeping her voice low. They knew that there were pirates in the area that Uma had set up to guard her territory. These pirates knew about the alliance between Uma’s crew and Mal’s crew, but they would still probably question their presence._

_As expected, it didn’t take long before Gil popped up. “Mal, what brings you to Uma’s territory?”_

_“We need a meeting with the captain.” Evie informed him. When they were in pirate territory, she did most of the talking. It was no secret that they tolerated the Isle Princess way more than Mal._

_“We don’t have time for questions.” Mal interrupted as she surveyed the area, her eyes never stopping their movement back and forth across the land around them. “You know she can’t be seen.”_

_“Alright, let’s go.” Gil led the way towards the ship._

_Mal reached up and tugged the hood of Evie’s sweatshirt down so it completely covered her face, then adjusted her own. They followed after the blonde boy, walking onto the ship with him in the front. No one questioned their presence, knowing better than to challenge one of Uma’s most trusted companions._

_Gil led them downstairs and Mal couldn’t help but shiver. She hadn’t been down here since the night Evie fled from her mother’s castle. She felt sick when she remembered how close Evie had been to jamming that knife into her stomach._

_The pirate knocked on the door and they heard a muffled reply. He pushed the door open. “You have some visitors.” He stepped aside, allowing Mal and Evie to enter._

_As soon as Uma’s eyes landed on them, she frowned and sat up straighter. “Why would you come here?” she looked at Gil. “Did anyone see her?”_

_“Rango is the one who came to get me and told me Mal was here. He didn’t mention Evie, but I still ran to go meet them to bring them here.” Gil explained._

_“Tell Rango he better forget everything he saw tonight.” Uma practically hissed. “Send Harry in here, and then don’t let anyone else down.”_

_“Got it, Captain.” Gil shut the door behind him and turned to leave._

_“What the fuck are you thinking, Blue?” Uma demanded._

_“Watch your tone.” Mal threatened._

_“I’m thinking that I’m desperate.” Evie interrupted before the two girls could start going at it. She wanted to get this done as quickly as possible so she could get back to her daughter. “We need help.”_

_Uma walked around her desk and sat on the edge so she was directly across from them. “I don’t know what else I could do for you. I keep Quinton out of your territory, I make sure you get enough food, I…”_

_“We don’t need a list of all the ways we’re indebted to you.” Mal practically spat._

_“Stop.” Evie scolded her. Mal frowned at her girlfriend, hating that she had corrected her in front of Uma. “I know you’re nervous, but you need to calm down. Uma has helped us. I wouldn’t be here if it wasn’t for her.”_

_That was part of Mal’s problem. She hated that they had to depend on Uma. Mal was the leader of their group, and she was Evie’s girlfriend. If anyone was supposed to take care of the blue haired girl, it was her. She couldn’t help the jealousy that ran through her knowing that Uma was the one protecting and providing for her family._

_Harry slipped into the room, coming over to stand next to his captain. He looked at Mal, who gave him a short nod, then walked over to greet Evie. She gave him a quick hug._

_“How are you? Is Gabriella okay?”_

_“She’s fine, but we need help.” Evie stated. She reached into her bag, pulling out the rolled up piece of paper. She held it out to Uma, who grabbed the paper from her hand._

_Mal wrapped an arm around Evie’s waist, pulling her closer as they watched Uma and Harry read over the note together. By the time they were finished, they both looked pissed._

_“So you’re going to Auradon.”_

_“They sent letters to Mal, Jay, Carlos, and me.” Evie told them. “They want us to come live in Auradon and attend Auradon Prep.”_

_Uma laughed. “You’re just going to jump ship then. Leave us to clean up the mess you caused with Quinton.”_

_“We don’t want to go.” Evie said. Mal sighed at the emotion in her voice._

_“Why wouldn’t you want to go?” Harry asked._

_“Because they can’t bring Ellie.” Uma realized. Evie stared down at the ground as the dark skinned girl said the words she had been trying so hard not to think._

_Mal leaned over and kissed Evie’s temple. She couldn’t imagine leaving the little girl behind, but it didn’t seem like they had a lot of options._

_“Bottom line is Maleficent intercepted the letters.” Mal took over. “She gave them to us and didn’t offer any choice other than going to Auradon.”_

_“She knows Evie is alive?” Harry wondered._

_“A lot of people think she’s alive, which is why we have to be careful about how we do this. We can’t risk having the Evil Queen or Quinton see Evie before we leave.”_

_“What do you need from us then?” Uma questioned._

_“I’ve thought of every single possibility.” Evie said. “I thought that maybe I could stay here since there are people who think I’m dead anyway, but there’s no way that could work since I can’t be seen. I thought about trying to sneak Ellie over, but that would end with us being thrown right back onto the Isle and it would leave us all exposed.” Evie sniffled and Mal squeezed her hand, trying to offer her some support. Tears still slid down Evie’s cheeks. “Uma, I need you to take Ellie.”_

_Uma was silent, her eyebrows furrowing. “What?”_

_“We have to keep her safe. We can try and bring her over once we get to Auradon. We’ll befriend the right people, make a big case on why the other kids on the Isle need to be brought over. We’ll do everything right so that they don’t think we’re evil.” Evie cried. “But until we can prove that to them, I need you to keep my little girl safe. I know you have done so much for me already, and I will forever owe you my life.” She shook her head miserably. “I don’t know what else to do.”_

_Uma stepped closer to her, putting Mal on the defensive immediately. She tried her best not to snap or push Uma away, even though this was setting off all of the alarms in her head. “What are you going to offer me in return?”_

_“As long as you take care of Ellie, you can have all of my territory.” Mal bargained. “That means total control over the docks for when shipment comes in, plus the market and Dragon Hall.”_

_“Okay.” Uma replied simply._

_“Okay?” Mal repeated. There was no way it could be that easy._

_“I’ll protect your kid in exchange for your territory. But there’s something else I want too.”_

_Evie nodded. “Name it.”_

_“When it’s time for you to bring her to Auradon, you bring us with you.”_

_Mal didn’t know if that was something they could promise. “You have no guarantee that we would follow through.”_

_Uma studied her. “We’re gonna need a little trust here, Mal. You’re trusting me to take care of the kid and keep her safe, and I’m trusting that you’ll help us leave this place.”_

_“We will.” Evie promised, holding out her hand. She pulled her knife from her pocket._

_“No, I’ll do it.” Mal offered._

_“I’ll make the deal with Blue.” Uma insisted. “She’s more likely to keep her word.” She pulled out her own knife and sliced her palm. Evie sliced her palm too and they pressed their hands together in a handshake._

_“We’ll bring her tomorrow night.” Mal stated._

_Uma offered a short nod. “Harry, take Gil and go with them. Make sure they get to their territory okay.”_

_Evie looked at the pirate. “Thank you, Uma. I promise I will follow through.”_

_Uma smiled, almost looking sad. “I really hope you do, Princess.”_

\-----

King Adam hadn’t gotten a good night’s sleep in three days. 

When he was crowned King of Auradon, he knew that he would be in charge of making tough decisions. He had little doubt that he could do this successfully and stay rational. It was important to not get too emotional or attached when you were in charge of everything. 

As the different leaders started to come to him, telling him the stories of those who had wronged them, he knew he had to make a decision. They were all living in constant fear of the villains who had harmed them. Even his own wife suffered from nightmares about Gaston. 

When he proposed the idea of the Isle of the Lost, many had agreed right away. They would be able to get rid of the villains, making them feel much safer in their homes. It would be easier to just donate portions of supplies each week to the island instead of keeping them as prisoners and having to care for them daily. They pushed forward and rounded up the criminals across the land and deposited them on the island. 

There had been no consideration of what they would do about rules or laws. Adam had naively assumed that those things would work out on their own, and if they didn’t, then there was magical barrier protecting the Auradonians from their wrath. He made sure the barge was coming each week, and then the villains were very much out of sight, out of mind. 

He remembered when he learned that Gaston had fathered twin boys. Adam hadn’t considered that the villains would reproduce, and he wasn’t sure how to react. But the council made the decision to leave the villains to sort this out on their own. After all, maybe having children was exactly what they needed to warm their cold, evil hearts. They had sent Auradon guards over a few times for the first couple years, but then it was deemed too dangerous and that stopped too. 

Adam charged into his office, tearing open the filing cabinet that held information for the Isle of the Lost. He searched through the files, pulling out the ones he had been looking for. He flipped them open and scanned through the various reports about the Isle. 

Finally, he found it. He stared down at the page, feeling his stomach flip. 

“Dad?” Adam looked up, seeing Ben standing in the doorway. His pride and joy, his son. He had done this to children the same age as his own. “What are you doing?” 

Adam turned the file around, allowing Ben to come see. He watched as his boy’s brow furrowed in confusion. “What is this?” 

“It’s a list of children born on the Isle.” Adam pointed to the names. “Gaston Junior, Gaston the Third, Calista Jane Hook, Anthony Tremaine, Gil son of Gaston, Harry Hook, Ginny Gothel, Jay son of Jafar, Mad Maddy Mim, Uma daughter of Ursula, Genevieve daughter of the Evil Queen, Mal daughter of Maleficent, Freddie Facilier, Carlos DeVil…the list goes on and on and this is only from the first couple years after the Isle was created.”

Ben nodded. “Okay…” 

“I knew that there were children on that island!” Adam’s voice boomed in the otherwise silent room. “I had a list of their names sitting in my cabinet this whole time, but I never understood that they were real people. To me, they were just the children of villains. They were an inconvenience and would require more rations to be sent, but that was it. I never thought of them as innocent kids being charged for their parents’ crimes. I never thought that their parents wouldn’t love them. But look at their names. Look at their faces,” he flipped the pages, finding the pictures that had been taken of the kids when they were younger. 

He studied their faces. Jay looked much older than the four year old he was supposed to be in the picture. Mal was scowling, her purple hair matted down and her cheeks red and chapped from the cold weather. Evie looked well taken care of, and it made Adam sick. He actually _remembered_ seeing this picture and telling himself that this was a little girl who was loved by her parents. Carlos was tiny, probably only three, and looked as if he had never stepped foot outside of his home in his life. 

Now that he knew, he could see the haunted looks in all of their eyes. He could tell that they were living in filth and disgust and were forced to face unimaginable horrors before his own son had even started kindergarten. 

“How could I have done this?” he sank down into his chair, his head falling into his hands. “How could I have let this happen?” 

“You didn’t know how bad it was.” Ben tried to comfort him. 

“I’m the King! It was my job to stay informed on what was happening on the island, but it was easier to just pretend it didn’t exist. I am completely at fault for everything those children dealt with!” 

Ben sat across from him. “Look Dad, I’m not going to sit here and justify what happened. The Isle of the Lost was a terrible idea, and the execution of it was even worse. There should have been laws and guards put into place and these people should have been offered birth control. Don’t even get me started on proper medical care, food, clothing, and education. But the point is, we have a chance to change that now. We can come up with a way to make things better.” 

Adam nodded in determination. He would find a way. He would make up for all the horrible things he had caused. He would try to change what these children had been going through. “What do we do?” 

“We need to get all of the children off the Isle, or at least anyone who wants to come. I was thinking that maybe we should let them fill out applications. That way, we can find out who all is on the Isle, how old they are, and what kinds of needs they will have once they come to Auradon. If children are really small, their parents or older siblings can fill out the paperwork for them. If parents want to keep their kids or the child wants to stay, then we’ll make sure we have guards in place to keep them safe.” 

“You want to send guards?” Adam asked wearily. He didn’t know if his men were up to the challenge that Maleficent and her minions would pose. 

“Actually, I was thinking about Li Shang’s army.” Ben admitted. “They are better trained, and might actually stand a chance at keeping some peace. We could have them deliver the applications to all of the children.” 

Adam shook his head sadly. “I have no clue how many there are or where they live or…” 

“We have Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos. We can have them sit down and make a list of everyone they can think of, and as we start to bring kids over, anyone they forgot about will hear about it too and come forward.” 

Adam nodded. “What do we do first?”

“Before anything else, we send Shang’s army to the Isle. We need to have some control before we start pulling children away, plus you know there is a war going on for territory right now.” 

“How do we handle that?” Adam questioned. He stared at his son, waiting for his advice. It was like he was suddenly realizing his little boy had grown up into a man. He couldn’t wait to see the things he did as King. 

“We bring one of the people over who is fighting.” Ben stated. “I know it’s a little risky, but there are two people that have to be brought over immediately.” 

“Who are they?” 

“The daughter of Ursula and the son of Captain Hook.” 

“Evie’s brother and the girl who helped take care of her child.” Adam realized. “Was that something Evie requested?” 

“Originally, they had told me that Uma needed to stay on the Isle because she had too many responsibilities to the other children there. But when we went to get Ellie, I found out that Uma agreed to take care of Ellie because Evie had promised her that when they went to get Ellie, they would bring her over too. I know that Evie was devastated that she couldn’t follow through, and I think it would be good to bring Uma over now. Besides that, the children on the Isle listen to the leaders of their crews. If Uma leaves and tells her crew to follow the orders of Shang’s army, I think they will listen.” 

At this point, Adam didn’t know what to do. He didn’t have any better ideas, so he figured they would try out what Ben said. “Okay. Who all are you bringing?” 

“Uma, Harry, Gaston’s son Gil, Dizzy Tremaine, and Celia Facilier.” Ben stated. “I talked to the VKs about the Isle and those names came up a lot, so we’re going to start there.” 

Adam nodded. He stood up and came around the desk, pulling his son into his arms. “You’re going to make a great king, Ben.” 

Ben hugged him back. “I hope I’m doing the right thing.”

“You’re trying, and that’s what matters. You have my full support on whatever you need to help the children on the Isle.” 

Ben smiled. “You have no idea how long I’ve been waiting to hear you say that.” 

\-----

Ever since they told the council about what life was like on the Isle, Evie had been dreading therapy. She lucked out and got to miss her Monday appointment because of a big chemistry assignment, but she knew that there was no way FG and Dr. Bren would let her out of her Wednesday appointment. 

On Monday, it was Carlos’s turn. He actually seemed okay when he came home afterwards. Evie knew it was because he had already confessed all of that information to their therapist, so there wasn’t anything new for them to bring up. She knew that Mal had already told the two women a lot too, so she hoped her therapy appointment the next day would be just as easy. 

On Tuesday, Mal went. Tourney had been cancelled that afternoon, so Evie, Jay, Carlos, and Ellie hung out in the girls’ dorm while Mal was gone. When she came home, she just pulled Evie onto her lap and wrapped her arms around her waist, peppering kisses on her neck and shoulders. 

“What’s wrong?” Evie asked her. 

“Nothing.” Mal kissed her shoulder again. “I just need to hold you for a little while, okay?” 

Evie snuggled into her, feeling Mal bury her face in her neck. “Okay.” She reached a hand back and stroked her fingers through her shoulder length purple hair, hoping she was helping Mal to relax a little. 

“You are the best thing that has ever happened to me, and I love you more than anything in this world.” Mal whispered to her after a moment. “You know that, right?” 

“Mmhmm.” Evie intertwined her fingers with the hand Mal had around her waist. “You know I feel the same about you, right?” 

Mal just pulled her even closer. “Can I ask you something?” 

“Of course.” She stroked her cheek. “Can you look at me please?” 

Mal reluctantly lifted her head up so they could make eye contact. She glanced over, seeing that the boys were still playing video games with Ellie on Carlos’s lap. She obviously didn’t want them to hear what they were talking about. 

“I need you to be honest with me.” Evie nodded, confirming that she would. “Have you ever blamed me for what happened to you?” 

Evie frowned. “What?” 

“A lot of it is my fault. If I didn’t kiss you in the market, or mark up your neck, then your mom wouldn’t have had some of those men hurt you.” 

Evie turned her body so she could straddle Mal’s lap and face her. She put both hands on Mal’s shoulders. “Okay, no. That isn’t your fault.” 

“How is it not?” Mal bit her lip nervously. “I knew that there would be consequences and I still kept doing it. I never asked you if it was okay. I just assumed you wouldn’t care, but I should have talked to you about it. You were hurt because of me.” 

“You kept me safe, M. My mother was going to hurt me no matter what because she was a cold, heartless bitch. She hated me and told me all about how I had never meant anything to her. Even if she didn’t hear about us being together, she would have found a different reason to bring them over because she knew it was the only way she could hurt me. If it wasn’t for you, the boys our age wouldn’t have been so scared and they would have hurt me too.” The purple haired girl looked away with tears in her eyes. Evie cupped her cheeks, forcing Mal to maintain eye contact. “This wasn’t your fault. I have never once blamed you or felt like you were the reason I was being hurt. You are the only happiness I had, baby. You were the only thing that kept me alive.” 

Mal finally let out a little sob. She leaned forward and buried her face in Evie’s neck again. “I’m so sorry, E. I wish I could have protected you from her.” 

“Shhh, you did the best you could.” Evie wrapped an arm around her to hug her and used her other hand to stroke her hair. “You are so good at protecting me, M. You always make me feel safe and loved. You did everything you could and I am so grateful to you.” 

She continued to hug Mal, letting her cry it out. She figured that Dr. Bren and FG must have brought up her past and how it affected Mal in Mal’s therapy session today and that was why she was so upset. She just held Mal tighter, hoping she was comforting her and taking a little of the guilt off of her shoulders. 

She looked up, seeing Jay and Carlos staring at them in concern. She just shook her head no, signaling that they shouldn’t ask about it. Evie kissed the top of Mal’s head. 

It took a little while, but Mal finally calmed down. Evie felt sick to her stomach. It was so rare to see Mal show her emotions like this, and it made her nervous. If Mal had reacted so strongly to her therapy appointment, Evie was sure that she would be a mess after hers tomorrow.

Mal kept her head on Evie’s chest, her arms wrapped around her waist. Evie carded her fingers lightly through Mal’s hair with one hand, using the other to rub her back soothingly. She started to hum softly and felt Mal let out a content sigh. 

“I need to make dinner.” Evie said after some time had passed. “Do you want to come with me?”

“Mmhmm.” Mal stood, carefully lifting Evie in her arms as she did since she had been sitting on her lap. She gave her a quick kiss, then let her stand.

Evie glanced over at Jay and Carlos. “Will you guys watch Ellie while I make dinner?”

“Of course.” Jay responded. 

“We’ll text when it’s ready.” Evie grabbed her phone in one hand, feeling Mal grab her other hand. They walked to the dorm kitchen together. “Do you feel like you need to talk about it?” 

Mal shook her head. “Not right now. I just want to take my mind off of things.” 

“Okay.” Evie said simply. She knew that sometimes, it wasn’t the right time to talk, so she wouldn’t push Mal. “Guess what.” 

“What?” Mal questioned as she lifted herself onto the counter. Evie went over to the fridge and started to pull out ingredients. 

“Tonight is your favorite meal. Homemade pizza.” 

Mal raised an eyebrow. “No it’s not. I looked at the meal plan earlier and it’s supposed to be chicken, cornbread, and green beans.” 

Evie put her hands on her hips. “Are you really going to complain about me making your favorite instead?” 

Mal gave her a small smile. “Thank you.” 

Evie grabbed out the dough, sauce, cheese, and pepperonis. She had made this a few times and she didn’t even need to look at the recipe anymore. She put the ingredients together, Mal occasionally distracting her and pulling her closer to give her a kiss. She put together two pizzas and stuck them into the oven.

“What vegetable?” Mal asked. 

Evie held in her groan. She wasn’t really in the mood to eat any vegetables, but she knew Mal wouldn’t let her get away with that. She pulled out a bag of frozen cauliflower and stuck it in the microwave. 

“Come here.” Mal directed, holding out her arms. Evie went into them instantly and felt her girlfriend’s lips press against her own. They made out lazily until the timer finally went off, signaling that dinner was finished. 

“Text the boys.” Evie said before pulling back. She grabbed an oven mitt and got out the two pans, sitting them on top of the stove. She picked up the pizza cutter and slid it across, cutting each slice with perfect precision. She took four plates out of the cabinet and set up their plates- one piece of pizza and some cauliflower for herself, three pieces of pizza and cauliflower for Mal, and four pieces of pizza with cauliflower for each of the boys. She grabbed a jar of chicken and gravy and a jar of peas for Ellie. 

The two girls carried everything over to the table, and then Mal got a bottle of water for each of them. The heard the boys before they saw them, and when they came in, they were talking to Ellie and making her giggle. 

“I’ll take her.” Mal offered. 

“You eat. I’ve got her.” Jay insisted. He reached out and took her from Carlos. “Thanks, Princess. This looks great.” 

Carlos nodded in agreement. “Yeah, you’re getting really good at your cheese to pepperoni ratio.” 

Evie smiled. “Thanks, boys.” She slid Ellie’s food across the table to Jay. She wanted to volunteer to take her own baby, but she knew that it was for the best that she just focused on her own food. Her eating habits were steadily improving and it wasn’t the hardest thing in the world anymore, but she still didn’t enjoy eating and she didn’t think she ever would. 

Evie could tell that Mal was still a little upset. It wasn’t unusual for the two of them to make dinner together, or to be touchy with each other, but Mal hadn’t let go of her. Even now that they were sitting, Mal had a hand on Evie’s leg, as if she needed the reminder that she was still right there. Evie didn’t comment. She knew better than anyone that sometimes the only thing that could make things okay was being close to the person you love. 

Evie did her best to eat her dinner. She liked the taste of pizza, but usually avoided the kind that was served in the cafeteria because it was greasier and sat a lot heavier in her stomach. The recipe she made wasn’t as greasy and it was easier for her to eat it and not feel regrets about it later (it helped too knowing that it was Mal’s favorite dinner). 

She heard a squeal and looked across the table at her daughter. Jay was attempting to spoon feed Ellie some of her peas, but she was wiggling around and banging her hands on the table. He stuck a spoonful in her mouth right as she looked up and made eye contact with Evie. The little girl smiled, causing the peas to run down her chin. 

“You’re messy tonight, little one.” She said with a laugh. 

“Yeah El, you’re eating like Carlos.” Jay teased. 

Carlos rolled his eyes. “Like you don’t drop more food than you actually eat.” 

Jay flexed his arms. “Trust me, I get enough food.” 

Evie glanced over at Mal to see how she reacted and she was happy to see a small smile on her face. At least she wasn’t totally checked out. She reached down and locked her hand with the one that Mal still had resting on her thigh. It was hurting her heart to see the strongest member of their crew looking so uncharacteristically upset, but at the same time, she was happy. It meant a lot to her that Mal felt comfortable enough to finally release some of her emotions instead of trying to shove away her own feelings so she could take care of everyone else. 

They spent the rest of the time eating and joking around, though Mal was mostly silent. As usual, Evie was the last to finish her food. 

Carlos stood up and started to gather plates. “I’ll do dishes and clean up the kitchen. Jay, do you want to watch Ellie?”

“Sure, C. We’ll stay down here and hang out with you.” Jay smiled at him. 

“I’ll take her.” Evie volunteered. “She needs a bath anyway.” she reached out to take her messy, vegetable stained daughter. Before she could grab her from Jay, Mal stepped forward. 

“Let me hold her.” She insisted. “She’s covered in peas and I don’t want her to get your clothes dirty.” 

Evie couldn’t help but smile at her girlfriend’s thoughtfulness. “Thank you, M.” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal took Ellie from Jay, pressing a kiss to her cheek. “Come on, little princess. Let’s go clean you up.” 

The two girls went back to their dorm room, leaving Jay and Carlos to clean up the mess. As they walked, Evie looked at Mal. 

“Have you noticed them?” 

Mal looked at her in confusion. “What do you mean?”

“I don’t know. Things just seem different with Jay and Carlos. Did you see how Jay was smiling?” 

“They looked like they were cuddling the other day when I woke them up before the Tourney game. I didn’t really think about it, but maybe you’re right.” 

Evie smiled. “Good for them. They both deserve some happiness.” 

Mal shook her head. “I feel sorry for Carlos.” 

Evie giggled, pushing Mal’s shoulder gently. She didn’t think Mal and Jay would ever stop their bantering. 

They got back into the dorm and went straight to the bathroom. Mal held Ellie while Evie carefully pulled her clothing off, then removed her diaper. She started the bath water, making sure that it wasn’t too hot or too cold, then plugged the drain. 

“You sit with her, I’m going to go grab a towel and make sure there’s an outfit set out for her.” Evie said. 

“You’ll be right back?” Mal asked. 

It caught Evie off guard. She knew that she could be a little clingy at times, but that was the exact opposite from how Mal acted. She realized that her girlfriend’s pain must be a lot deeper than what she had expressed so far. 

Evie went over to where Mal was standing. She cupped her cheeks and leaned in, pressing a firm kiss against her lips. When she pulled away, she rested their foreheads together. 

“Wherever you two are is where I am always going to be.” She promised. “I’ll be back in a minute. Take care of our girl.” She gave her another quick kiss and then went into the room. 

Evie moved quickly, setting out a clean diaper and sleeper on the changing table, and then grabbing a towel and wash cloth. She went back into the bathroom and saw Mal kneeling in front of the tub, squeezing a toy that sprayed water out. Ellie was giggling happily and splashing her hands against the water. 

Evie sat down next to her. Ellie’s eyes drifted towards her and she picked up a different toy that was floating in the water and held it out to her mother.

“Thank you, Ellie.” Evie took the toy. She was determined to teach her daughter to be polite and respectful, so she always spoke to her the way she wanted her to one day speak. 

Evie dunked the toy under water and then sprayed it out, causing Ellie to break out into laughter again. 

“Her laugh is the best thing in the world.” Mal stated. 

“It really is.” Evie agreed. They spent a while playing with Ellie until she started to show signs that she was tired. 

Evie washed the baby’s hair and body, making sure she was back to her usual clean self. By the time she was finished, Ellie was whining and pulling at her shirt. 

“I know, baby. It’s almost time for milk.” Evie promised as she wrapped her in the towel. She brought her into the room, seeing that Jay and Carlos were now sitting on the couch doing homework. She scanned her eyes over them; they were sitting so close that their shoulders were brushing. She put Ellie down on the changing table and started to dry her off. She elbowed Mal, then jerked her head over towards the boys so she would look. The purple haired girl looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. 

“I could leave them alone, or I could go over and say some dumbass comment the way Jay always does to us.” Mal whispered. 

“Leave them alone.” Evie decided. “We don’t know what’s going on yet, or if they even know what’s going on. Don’t freak them out about it.” 

Evie got Ellie dressed and then scooped her up into her arms, pressing a kiss against her cheek. “There’s my girl. You’re all clean now. Are you ready for milk?”

“Mama.” Ellie complained. “Mama, mama.” 

“I know, it’s so unfair that you had to wait.” She carried her over to the bed and sat down. Typically when she fed Ellie at night, Mal would do her homework. Sometimes she sat next to her on the bed, sometimes on the floor so she had space, and sometimes she sat in the living area with the boys. But tonight, she followed her right over to the bed and stood in front of her. 

Evie pulled her shirt up as she studied her girlfriend. “Are you going to do your homework?” 

“No.” Mal was staring down at the ground. When she looked back up, she was frowning and her eyes were darting around nervously. “Can you sit on my lap?” 

Now Evie was really starting to get nervous. Mal had calmed down a little when they were bathing Ellie, but now she was looking upset again. “Whatever you want, M.” 

Mal sat down at the top of the bed, leaning her back against the headboard. Evie pulled her shirt and bra completely off so that nothing would be in the way. She sat sideways on Mal’s lap so she could see her face and still pay attention to Ellie. Mal instantly wrapped both arms around her waist. Evie shifted her grasp on Ellie, holding her breast in one hand as she helped her daughter latch on with the other. Ellie was tired and cranky, which always made feedings more difficult. Luckily, she latched on correctly after the second try. 

Once Ellie was situated, Evie held her with one arm. She leaned against Mal, bringing her other arm up to scratch gently at the back of Mal’s neck. She heard Mal sigh and then felt her kiss her forehead. 

“Are you okay?” she asked quietly. She didn’t want the boys to hear, or for her voice to disturb Ellie, whose eyes were drifting shut. 

Mal smiled, but it wasn’t her usual smile. “I will be. I just need you right now, okay?” 

“Okay.” Evie leaned in and gave her a kiss. “If you need anything else, I’m here. No matter what.” 

“I know.” Mal kissed her again.

Evie stayed right where she was until it was time to switch Ellie to her other breast. She had to shift a little bit, but she tried to keep as much of her body touching Mal as possible. She completely understood how it felt to just want to be close to the person you love, so she wouldn’t judge Mal or ask questions if that’s not what she wanted. 

After a little while, Ellie fell asleep. Evie waited until her tiny lips detached from her breast and then she pulled her away. 

“I’m going to put her in her crib.” She whispered.

“Goodnight, Ellie.” Mal kissed her cheek. She kept her hands on Evie’s hips so she could carefully stand up, doing her best not to jostle Ellie too much.

“Goodnight, my love.” Evie gave Ellie and kiss and then laid her down in her bed. She went right back to Mal’s side afterwards. “Wanna take a bath?” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal stood up, gently pushing Evie towards the bathroom door. She rolled her eyes, knowing it was because she was shirtless and she didn’t want the boys to look at her. 

They went into the bathroom, closing the door behind them. Evie started the water, making sure it was borderline hot before stepping back and letting the tub fill. She took off her jewelry, then her pants and underwear, leaving her naked. Mal was still fully clothed and staring at the water with a blank expression. 

“Come on, baby.” Evie went over to her and wrapped her arms around her neck. “Time to calm down, okay?” The irony wasn’t lost on her that those were words that Mal often said to her. It seemed to do the trick though because Mal took a deep breath and then nodded. 

Evie gave Mal a long, slow kiss. As they pulled away for air, she grabbed the hem of Mal’s shirt and lifted it over her head, then unclasped her bra and dropped it on the floor. Her hands went to the button of Mal’s pants next and she pulled those and her underwear down all at once. 

“I want you in my arms.” Mal said as they walked over to get in the water. 

“No.” Evie simply responded. 

Mal sounded a little hurt. “No?” 

“No. You never let me hold you, and I think you need that right now.” Evie stepped over the side of the tub and sat down in the water. She stared up at Mal, who looked conflicted. “Come on, M. Just because you lay on me for once doesn’t mean you won’t still be the overprotective, strong girlfriend and mommy that would do anything for her girls.” 

Mal sighed in defeat and stepped into the water. Evie couldn’t help but smile at how awkward she looked trying to figure out the best way to sit. Evie put her hands on Mal’s hips and silently directed her to turn around, and then pulled her down so she was sitting between Evie’s legs, her back against the blue haired girl’s chest. 

“You do so much for me.” Evie whispered as she pressed a kiss against Mal’s shoulder. “Let me take care of you now.” 

Mal’s muscles loosened a little and she actually leaned back into Evie. The slightly older girl wrapped her arms around Mal’s waist and pulled her in closer. She rested her chin on her shoulder, occasionally giving her a gentle kiss on the neck as they sat in silence. 

“You are the strongest, most caring person I know.” Evie told her after a little while. “No matter what, I know that I can always depend on you. You drop everything to help me when I need it. You love me so completely, and you are the reason I am still alive today.” 

“Stop.” Mal interrupted. “I don’t deserve you, and you shouldn’t be sitting here and babying me. I’m the reason you were hurt.” 

“Turn around so you can look at me.” Evie directed, her voice strong and harsh. Though Mal was the leader of their group, everyone knew better than to ignore Evie when she told them to do something. Mal pulled out of her arms and turned around in the water so that they could face each other. “There has never been a time in my life where you have been disrespectful to me, or hurt me, or made me feel like I wasn’t the most beautiful person on this planet. I understand why you’re upset, M, but you can’t take the blame for something that wasn’t your fault.” 

“But it was my fault!” Mal argued. “I knew what the consequence would be if we were seen together, and I kissed you and left hickeys all over you anyway. What the fuck was I thinking!? The first time she caught us, she locked you in a closet for a week. Why did I ever think the result would be different?” 

“That’s on my mother, not on you. You protected me and kept me safe.” 

“Not well enough! If I had protected you, you wouldn’t have been hurt so many times. That’s on me.” 

“No.” Evie shook her head in refusal. “There was nothing you could do, Mal.”

“I could have refused to let you go back. I could have killed her. I could have killed every man that came to your house right from the beginning. I could have…”

“Stop!” Evie finally raised her voice. She reached out and grabbed Mal’s chin, turning her head and forcing her to look at her. “Shut the fuck up and listen to me. You know how life on the Isle was. You know that there were a bunch of kids with terrible circumstances. You can’t stop every bad thing before it happens; that’s the whole reason we’re in Auradon now and trying to save them.”

“I don’t care about all of them. I care about _you_. I have a responsibility to _you_ , and I couldn’t even handle that!” 

“What were you supposed to do? My mother was one of the most powerful villains on that island. She had allies and resources that we couldn’t have beat. Do you know what you did do though? When I was hurt and sore and exhausted, you cleaned me up and kept me safe until I could heal. When I was crying and begging you to let me die, you held me and kissed me until I felt better. There were so many times that I wanted to kill myself. You were the only thing that kept me from doing it. If you weren’t there, I wouldn’t be here today. I have never once blamed you.” 

“Well you should. I’m sure everyone else does.” 

Evie frowned and shook her head. “What happened today in therapy?” 

“I don’t want to talk about it.” 

She gave her a look. “You never let me say that, so I’m not letting you say it. Talk.” 

Mal groaned. “It was all about the council meeting, just like I knew it would be. I had already told Dr. Bren most of the stuff about me, so she started asking about you. She wanted to know how I felt about everything that came out in the meeting, and I told her that I had never been more proud of you. You were so strong and brave, and I had never heard you talk about your past with so much confidence before. Seriously, after that meeting I fell so much more in love with you. I didn’t even know it was possible to love you more than I already did, but you did such a good job.” Mal stared down at her lap. “That’s why it fucking sucks to know that it was my fault you even had to talk about any of that.” 

Evie melted as Mal was saying she was more in love with her, but by the end of her statement, she was confused. “Did Dr. Bren tell you that it was your fault?” 

“No, of course not. But she was asking me about my feelings on everything and she figured it out. She doesn’t understand though. I might not have been as powerful as Maleficent, but I had a good amount of power. I could have done something to help you.” 

Evie wanted to scream. She didn’t know what she could say to make Mal understand that this wasn’t her fault. She felt her hands start to shake as she watched a tear drip down Mal’s cheek. 

“Look at me.” She pleaded gently. Mal reluctantly lifted her head up so they could make eye contact. “Did you go find random men and ask them to come into my bedroom in exchange for beauty supplies?” Mal stared at her silently. “Answer me.” 

“No.” she practically whispered. 

“Did you make the choice to let different men beat me and abuse me to teach me a lesson?” 

“No.”

“Did you sell me?” 

Mal looked sick to her stomach. “No.” 

“Have you ever raped me?” 

There was dead silence in the room after that. Evie felt her own chest tighten as she said the word out loud. She hated to even associate that word with her girlfriend. She bit her lip as she tried to keep herself calm. 

Mal instantly noticed how much she was struggling and leaned in to give her a hug. “I would never, ever hurt you like that, baby.” 

“You would never hurt me, period.” Evie told her. “You have always done what you could to keep me safe, but some things were out of your control. I know that you did everything you possibly could to help me. I will never blame you for what my mother did. It’s time for you to let go of those feelings.”

Mal tightened her arms around her. “I’m sorry you had to say that. I’m sorry for bringing all of this up.” 

“I’m happy you told me. I wouldn’t ever want you to have to live with misplaced guilt.” Evie squeezed her in her arms. “I love you.” 

“I love you with my entire heart.” Mal gave her a kiss. “I’m…”

“Stop apologizing.” Evie chastised. 

Mal cracked a tiny smile. “Now you know how I feel.” 

“You’re always telling me that I blame myself and worry about things that are out of my control. You need to take your own advice and let it go.” 

“I’ll try.” Mal promised. 

“Good.” Evie kissed her. “Let’s clean up. I’m sure you’re tired.” She grabbed the cup that was sitting on the side of the bathtub and dipped it in the water, then poured it over Mal’s hair. She reached over to grab the bottle of shampoo and squirted some into her hand. 

Evie started to rub the shampoo into Mal’s hair. She scratched her scalp, watching as her eyes fluttered shut. Mal was always loving and affectionate with her, but she very rarely let herself be taken care of. Evie was going to take this opportunity to treat her like a queen since Mal always made sure she felt that way. She rubbed the shampoo into her scalp and her ends, and once it started to lather, she knew it was time to rinse. 

“Lean back, my love.” Evie turned on the faucet and Mal leaned back. She ran her fingers through her hair to make sure it was completely washed out. Then, she repeated the whole process again with conditioner, but only applied it to the ends of her hair. “Alright, your hair is clean. Let’s stand up so we can wash your body.” 

“What about you?” Mal asked. 

“I’ll clean up after. Just let me do this for you, okay?” she pulled the plug from the drain and they stood up, then turned on the shower water. 

Evie got a wash cloth wet and put some soap onto it. She took her time washing every part of Mal’s body. She moved quickly, trying not to linger; if Mal wanted to initiate anything physical, she wouldn’t mind, but she was still a little shaky and uncomfortable from having to talk about what happened to her. She didn’t know if she would ever be able to casually talk about her past, but therapy had been helping. Dr. Bren told her that changing her wording was the first step in coming to terms with what had happened to her, so she was trying to keep that in mind. 

“Your turn.” Mal said once she finished. Evie just stood there and let Mal take care of her. She took deep breaths, doing her best to calm herself down. She wasn’t on the verge of a panic attack or anything, but she felt shaky and a little nauseous. She needed to calm down because if she freaked out, she knew Mal would shut down and turn all of the attention onto her. She wanted to take care of her girlfriend while she was actually letting her. 

It didn’t take Mal long to help Evie get clean, and then they both wrapped themselves up in towels and got out of the shower. Evie went over to the mirror and did her moisturizing routine, and then they both brushed their teeth. 

Evie led the way to the closet and they went inside to find their pajamas. They got dressed in their usual nightly attire.

“Give me your towel.” Evie said. Mal handed hers over and she went into the bathroom to hang both of them up. When she came back into the room, Mal was looking over the side of Ellie’s crib. “Is she still asleep?” 

“Yep.” Mal went over to her and wrapped her arms around her waist, then leaned in and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Can we sleep?” 

“Whatever you want, M.” Evie hugged her, then grabbed her hand and pulled her towards their bed. 

Mal laid down first and then reached her arms out to her. “I just need to hold you, okay?” 

Evie nodded and got into bed. She tried to lay her head on Mal’s chest, but she grabbed her arms and pulled her over so that she was completely on top of her. Evie just sank into her, letting Mal hold her and protect her. 

“Close your eyes.” Evie said. She reached a hand up and stroked her fingertips over Mal’s cheek. “I’m right here. Everything is okay.” She kissed her t-shirt over top of her heart. “I love you.” 

“Love you too.” Mal kissed the top of her head. It didn’t take long before they both drifted off to sleep. Evie’s last thought was that if therapy had affected Mal this much, she couldn’t even imagine how bad her appointment would be tomorrow. 

\-----

The next day, Carlos stayed home from school with Ellie. Mal woke up and was acting much more like herself and Evie was glad that she seemed to be doing better. But the entire day went way too quickly and Evie could feel herself getting more and more nervous the closer she got to her therapy appointment. 

“It’s going to be okay.” Mal reassured her as they sat in 7th period. “You are so brave, my princess. You’re going to go in there and talk to Dr. Bren and Fairy Godmother, and afterwards, I’ll be there to help you.” 

“I don’t want to fall apart.” Evie said. “I just want to get this over with and then come back to the dorm and be okay. I don’t want Ellie to see me cry.” 

“You’re a lot stronger than you give yourself credit for. You will be fine.” Mal squeezed her hand. “Do you want to come to Tourney practice, or are you just going to go back to the room?”

“I’ll have to meet you at practice so I can get Ellie.” 

“If you don’t want to go, I can be a couple minutes late and stay in the room with her so that you don’t have to go out. It’s up to you.” 

Evie thought it over. Now that it was December, it was cold outside. Tourney practice had been moved indoors, which meant it would be warm enough that she could take Ellie. 

“I feel like if I’m upset, I’ll want to be close to where you are.” Evie confessed. “I’ll meet you at practice and if I feel like I need to leave once I get there, I’ll leave.” 

“Okay.” The bell rang and Evie felt her stomach drop. “Come on, I’ll walk you to FG’s office.” 

Evie gathered her stuff and then stood, taking Mal’s outstretched hand. They said goodbye to Jay and then walked to the headmistress’s office. 

“They didn’t know anything about that night.” Evie said quietly. She knew without saying it that Mal would pick up on the fact that she meant the night Ellie was conceived. “I know that’s what they’re going to want to talk about, and I’m nervous.” 

“It’s going to be hard.” Mal agreed. “Do you want me to stay?” 

“No.” Evie told her gently. “I need to do this by myself. I’m just worried about how they’ll react. I know Ben and FG keep saying we won’t be sent back to the Isle, but what if they changed their mind? They thought that my mother was the first person I killed, and now I told them there’s another person.” 

Mal stopped walking and pulled Evie into her arms. “I’m so sorry that you ever had to go through that. I never wanted you to have to hurt another person. You are so good, baby girl. You shouldn’t have had to do that, but you did what you needed to survive. They’re going to understand that, and if they don’t, then I’ll get rid of whoever I have to. You are never going back to the Isle.” 

Evie rested her head on Mal’s shoulder, letting her rock her back and forth for a minute. When they separated, Mal gave her a reassuring smile and kiss on the forehead, then walked her over to FG’s door and knocked. 

“Hello, girls.” She greeted, pulling the door open.

Mal kept her grip on Evie’s hand. She led her into the room, walking her over to her usual chair. “You’ve got this, Pretty Girl.” She give her a quick kiss, then looked at FG. “Take care of my girl.” 

“Of course.” She smiled at her. 

Mal leaned down and picked up Evie’s backpack, slinging it over her shoulder so she could take it back to their room. Evie watched Mal as she walked towards the door. She turned around and smiled at her once last time, and then left the room. 

“Hello, Evie.” Dr. Bren greeted. 

“Hi.” Evie looked at the therapist. “I wanted to thank you. Mal had a really tough night last night, but I know she needed it. I had no idea that she was blaming herself for what happened to me, so I wanted to tell you that I appreciate you trying to help her see that she isn’t responsible for any of it.” 

“That’s my job. I don’t want any of you to ever feel like you have something weighing heavily on your conscience and that you have to hold onto that and deal with it alone.” she smiled at her. “That goes for you too. Is there anything specific you want to talk about?” 

Evie sighed. “I already know what you both are going to want to hear about.” 

Fairy Godmother sat down. “What do you think, dear?” 

“You want to hear about the night I got pregnant.” 

Dr. Bren nodded. “For you to bring that up, I know that must be weighing heavily on you. But remember, the point isn’t to push yourself so hard that you are mentally exhausted afterwards. I know that having that council meeting was extremely difficult on you. If you’re not ready to talk about it right now, we can do that next week and talk about something else today.” 

Evie almost wanted to take the out that they were offering her, but she knew she shouldn’t. She had already been trying to mentally prepare for this all day, so she figured now was the best time to get it over with.

“I don’t even know what his name is.” She said softly, staring down at her lap. 

“Would you like to know?” Dr. Bren asked. 

Evie looked at her in surprise, feeling her hands start to shake. “You know who he is?”

“No, but we could look into records. If he was sent to the Isle, there has to be some sort of record somewhere that would say his name. If you wanted to know, we could try and find out for you.” 

She felt like she was going to be sick. “No. I don’t ever want to know. I have no interest in ever thinking about that, and I don’t want Ellie to ever know what happened, let alone what his name is.” 

Fairy Godmother studied her. “This man…he is the one who…” she trailed off, not really sure how to phrase it. 

Evie knew what she was trying to say. “Yes, he’s the one who got me pregnant.” She would never, ever say the word ‘father’. As far as she was concerned, Gabriella had two mothers and that is all she would ever need.

“There weren’t any other possibilities around that time?” Dr. Bren wondered. 

“On the Isle, there isn’t birth control, so we have to be a little more creative. There are potions that can be made to prevent pregnancy, but they only work for like 12 hours. Any time I had one of my ‘lessons’, my mother would make sure I had a potion to take. Even on the days I was exhausted and could barely move, she would pry my mouth open and shove it down my throat.” Evie swallowed harshly. “She didn’t give me a potion that time.” 

“Do you think it was on purpose?” 

“No.” Evie admitted. “She probably thought that the last one I had taken was still in effect, but it had been more than 12 hours.” She closed her eyes, realizing that she had just admitted to them that she had to sleep with another man on the same day she had slept with and killed this other one. It was more than she ever wanted to admit to anyone, and she felt sick to her stomach. 

“Do you want to talk about the man, or what he did to you?” Dr. Bren asked gently. “If it’s too much, you can call boundary.” 

Evie bit her lip. “Do you know how lucky I am? There is not one part of Ellie that looks anything like him. I have always hated the way I look and dreaded looking into mirrors because I was never good enough. But I had never been so happy to see my features as I was when Ellie was born. Mal and the boys always say she’s my clone and they’re right. She looks exactly like me in every single way, and I am so, so lucky. I can still picture exactly what he looks like, and I don’t know how I would feel about Ellie if I saw any part of him on her face.” She pinched her wrist slightly, trying to keep herself in the present. “I know that sounds horrible. I’m her mother, and I know I should love her no matter what. But I never wanted to be pregnant. 

“I cried every single day after I found out. My first thought had been an abortion. There are no doctors, so all I would have had to do was swallow a potion and my problem would have been done with.” She looked at the two older women. “That makes me sound terrible, but I didn’t think I could do it. I knew that if that baby was born and it looked like him, I couldn’t have handled it. I’m not a religious person, and I think it’s pretty hard to believe that if some kind of God existed, he would let a bunch of children on an island to rot for their parents’ crimes, but I prayed every single day that I would have a daughter. If she was a boy…” Evie shook her head. “I don’t know. I don’t know what would have happened. Realistically, I know Mal wouldn’t have let anything happen to the baby. But I think I would have tried to get rid of it.” She pinched herself harder as she admitted the words she had never dared to say out loud, not even to Mal. “I don’t think I could have hurt him, but I would have given him away. When she was born and I turned her over and saw she was a girl, I had never felt so relieved. And then when I saw her face and she looked just like me, I finally felt like I could breathe again.” 

“It’s okay to feel that way.” Dr. Bren reassured her. “You went through something horrific that would have been hard for anyone to handle, and you did it at only fifteen years old. You’re not a bad person for considering how you would have felt if there were different outcomes. Given what I know about you, I don’t think you would ever willingly hurt another person. If Ellie had been a boy, I think you would have surprised yourself.” 

“I don’t know. I’m just glad I never have to find out.” Evie took a deep breath and released it, trying to release some of her anxiety with it. “Like I said in the council meeting, the night all of this happened, my mother had caught me going to see Mal. We argued, and I stood up to her and said that the only way she could stop me from seeing her was if she killed me. She said that she would make me wish I was dead and that she had an extra special lesson. She told me that she had saved this lesson because she didn’t want to ruin my body this badly, but that it was time now and she would let him rip me apart and then go get Mal and show her what I had let him do to me.” She dug her fingernails into her palms. “Mal and the boys have seen the aftermath of my lessons, but they never…” she trailed off. “I’ve never told them what actually happened. I can’t tell you what happened either. I would never want anyone to know the things that I’ve had to do.” 

“You did what you had to do to stay alive.” Fairy Godmother reminded her. “Can I hold your hands, sweetheart? I don’t want you to make yourself bleed.” 

Evie realized that FG had noticed she was clenching her hands. She opened her hands and let the older woman hold them.

“It lasted for a while.” Evie said in a whisper, feeling her eyes well up with tears. “I was in so much pain. He passed out on top of me and I knew that I had to find a way out. Either I was going to kill myself or run away. Honestly, if I had had a chance to say goodbye to Mal, I would have probably killed myself. But it had been a few days since I had seen her and seeing her was all I could think about. I had a knife stashed next to my bed that Mal had given me in case I ever needed it, and I pulled it out and stabbed him.” Evie looked at them as tears poured down her cheeks. “I didn’t want to do it. I promise that I had never killed someone before. I just didn’t know what else to do! He was big, over six feet and way heavier than me. There was no other way for me to get away from him. He literally had me pinned down to the bed and he would have felt it if I tried to move out from under him. I had no choice. If there was any other way, I would have taken it, but there wasn’t. I didn’t know what to do.” 

“Shhh, it’s okay, Evie.” Fairy Godmother reassured her. 

“We know you’re not a bad person.” Dr. Bren stated. “Like I said, you would never hurt someone if you didn’t have to. Can I ask a question?” Evie nodded. “Is there anyone else you have ever had to kill?” 

“Just him and my mother.” Evie felt the immense guilt weighing down on her from that statement. “I’m sorry I didn’t tell you sooner.” she cried. “Are you going to send me back?” 

“Absolutely not.” FG reached up, wiping the tears off her cheeks. “I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again. You are never, ever going back there.” 

“And Mal and Jay and Carlos?” she whimpered. 

“Nope. You’re all here forever.” 

Evie knew she would say that, but it still took a little of the weight off her chest. She did her best to dry her tears, but they wouldn’t stop coming. 

“I was really out of it. I got out from under him, put on clothes, and then I climbed out of my window. It was fifteen minutes from my mother’s castle to our hideout, and I remember thinking that if I just counted to 60 fifteen times, I could make it there. I don’t even know how I was functioning at that point. I guess my body went into autopilot and the adrenaline took over. I crashed into Uma, Harry, and Gil.” 

“Harry is your brother, correct?” Dr. Bren chimed in. 

“Yes. Harry and Uma are the ones who took care of Ellie when we left, and I’m sure Gil helped too. Uma and Mal are rivals and they hate each other, but Uma has always been nice to me. I know that I fell on the ground and she sat next to me, and I crawled onto her lap because I couldn’t recognize Harry and Gil. I just knew they were men and they were close to me and I didn’t want them to hurt me. Uma sent Gil to get Mal, and Harry carried me back to their territory. 

“I passed out, and when I woke up, I was in a room with Uma. We have a mutual understanding to be courteous to each other because Harry is attached to both of us, but we aren’t really friends. Even though Harry is my brother, I was first and foremost loyal to Mal, so as soon as I saw Uma, I assumed she was going to hurt me. I was delirious and in shock and probably starving half to death. I remember that the first thing I thought was that I needed to kill myself because I couldn’t let my mother get to me or she would torture me forever. When I had climbed out the window, I brought the knife with me that I had used to stab him. Uma took it from me when she found me and she set it on a table. I saw it and I lunged for it and then turned it and pressed it against my stomach.” Evie stopped for a second. She needed to take a little break. 

FG and Dr. Bren seemed to understand. FG just stroked her thumbs over the tops of Evie’s hands while she took deep breaths. 

“I hadn’t ever told you that I thought about killing myself.” Evie confessed. “I used to think about it a lot; that was the only thing that Mal and I ever really fought about. I would say to her that I needed to go, that I didn’t want to do this anymore, that I wasn’t strong enough. She would remind me that I needed to stay alive. She is the entire reason that I’m still here because if I didn’t have her, I would have ended things a long time ago.” 

“Before the time with Uma, did you ever actually attempt suicide?” Dr. Bren wondered. 

“No. I talked about it, but I had never tried to go through with it. The only time I ever would have really had a chance was when I was at the hideout, and I would have never, ever done it and left Mal to find my body.” Evie shivered after she said the words. “The night with Uma was the first time. I held the knife on my stomach and I know she was trying to talk me down, but I can’t remember what she said besides her telling me that Mal and I had real love and she had seen it. Love was such a foreign word on the Isle and people weren’t allowed to be in love, so it has always stuck with me that Uma knew that Mal and I loved each other, but she never saw that as a weakness. Right when I was about to shove the knife in, Mal busted into the room. She grabbed my arm and twisted it, and then she sat down and pulled me onto her lap. I fought her and begged her to let me die, but she just held me closer. I kept trying to push her away, and then finally, I gave up and cried myself to sleep on her lap. When I woke up, I didn’t feel as out of it. Mal and the boys helped me clean up and then I told them what happened, and I never went back to my mother’s castle.” 

“Since you have come to Auradon, have you ever felt like you wanted to hurt yourself?” Dr. Bren questioned. 

Evie shook her head. “No. I haven’t thought about it since Ellie was born.” she thought it over. “You know, I never realized how much me saying that affected Mal until we came here. Do you remember when you gave me the first anxiety medicine and I flushed it down the toilet because I had horrible side effects?” Dr. Bren and FG both nodded. “I left the bottle in the bedroom and flushed all the pills, then took a bath. Mal busted in and she was freaking out because she saw the empty bottle and she assumed that I swallowed them. She was so scared that I had hurt myself.” She bit her lip. “I’ve hurt Mal so much.”

“You didn’t hurt Mal.” Fairy Godmother told her. “The two of you are so connected and your bond is so strong that it’s almost like you feel each other’s pain. Your situation was hurting Mal, but you never actually did anything to hurt her, Evie. You can’t hold on to those feelings.” 

“But I’m the one who said I wanted to kill myself. How is that not my fault?”

“Because the reason you were thinking about suicide was because of your circumstances that were caused by your mother. You weren’t just saying it because you wanted Mal’s attention. You were hurting and that was the only escape you could think of.” Dr. Bren said. “I need you to make a commitment to me right now, okay?” 

“Okay…” Evie wasn’t sure what the therapist wanted. 

“If you ever start to feel like you want to hurt yourself, I need you to tell someone. You can tell me or Fairy Godmother, or even Mal and the boys. You said that you haven’t felt that way since Ellie was born, and I’m glad to hear that and I hope you don’t ever feel that way again. But if the thought ever creeps into your mind, tell someone.” Dr. Bren stared into her eyes. “The world would be a much worse place without you in it, Evie. No one wants you to be hurt. We all care about you so much and we want you to be happy, safe, and healthy.” 

Evie’s bottom lip quivered. There were many times where she questioned why they had come to Auradon. There were days where she knew it would have been so much easier to just stay on the Isle and not confront any of these issues. But as the weight lifted little by little off her chest and she tried her best to come to terms with her past, she had never been more grateful to come to Auradon.

“Thank you.” Evie leaned forward and hugged the doctor. She had hugged FG before, but never Dr. Bren. The dark haired woman wrapped her arms around her and they stayed like that for a few moments. 

When they separated, FG had tears in her eyes. She gave Evie a quick hug, then wiped the tears off her cheeks. “You have come so far, sweet girl. I wish I could wave my magic wand and take away all of your pain.” 

Evie smiled at her. “Me too.” 

“We’ll work through it all.” Dr. Bren chimed in. “It’s going to be hard, but you’re doing so well. When I first met you, I didn’t know how you were ever going to recover from all of the trauma you had been through. But the more I get to know you, the more I can see how strong you are. You are a fighter, Evie. No matter what it takes, you’re going to fight your way through this and come out so much stronger in the end.” 

“Thank you.” 

“That’s all for today. Are you meeting Mal and the boys at Tourney practice?” 

“Yes.” Evie stood up. “Thank you both, for everything.” 

“Anytime.” FG and Dr. Bren said in perfect unison. 

Evie exited the room and her chest actually felt lighter. She knew there was still a long way to go, but she was making progress and that was the best thing she could ask for. 

It only took a few minutes for her to get to the indoor Tourney field. She spotted her family immediately and walked towards them. Carlos saw her first and he must have said something to Mal and Jay because they all turned to look at her. 

“Hey Princess.” Jay greeted once she was close enough to hear. 

Evie didn’t speak. She went straight to Mal and wrapped her in a tight hug. Mal instantly hugged her back, using one hand to rub up and down her back. After a moment, she felt Mal pull away. The purple haired girl gently turned her face so she could see her, and Evie guessed that Mal thought she was crying. 

“I’m sorry.” She said instead, then leaned up to give her a quick kiss. 

“For what?” Mal asked in confusion. Her arms never left Evie’s waist. 

“For trying to kill myself.” She looked into her eyes. “On that night, I really would have done it if you didn’t come into the room and stop me. I’m glad that you did.” 

“Me too.” Mal agreed. 

“I never realized how much it hurt you when I said that I didn’t want to be here anymore until you thought I swallowed those pills. Remember what I told you that day?” 

“You said that you wanted to be alive, and not just alive, but happy.” 

Evie nodded. “I’m happy, M. Things have gotten so much better. I don’t feel like throwing up every single time I eat anymore, my anxiety is getting better, Ellie is safe, and now more kids are being brought from the Isle. For the first time ever, I’m actually feeling like things might be good for a while.” 

Mal cupped both of her cheeks and pulled her in for a kiss. “I love you so much, you know that? I’m so happy that you’re happy.” 

Evie touched their foreheads together. “It’s all because of you. You make me happy.” 

Mal smiled. “You make me happy too.” 

\-----

Ben knocked on the door of the girls’ dorm room. He was ready to tell them about his plan for the VK Exchange Program, and he just needed some approval. He had heard from FG and Dr. Bren that they had all been participating in therapy this week and that they were in a good place, so it made him feel a little better. He had hoped and prayed that the council meeting wouldn’t set them all back, and it seemed like they had come through it and were stronger now. 

“Hey Ben.” Evie greeted with a smile as she opened the door. She moved aside so that he could come into the room. 

He noticed the others were all sitting on the couch in the living area. He didn’t see Ellie, so he assumed she was sleeping. Evie walked over to the others, gracefully sitting on Mal’s lap while Ben took the chair near them. 

“I’ve made a decision on who we are bringing over next.” He told them. The VKs had provided him with a list of as many children as they could think of on the Isle. They gave him a couple options for who they thought she be brought over, and he had sat down to make the choice on his own. He had talked to his father a few days ago and cleared it with him, so now he just needed to tell his friends. 

He studied each of their faces. They looked nervous, but content. When he considered how they had acted when they were brought to Auradon three months ago compared to how they were acting now, it was like a night and day difference. He hoped he could make the same impact on the new children. 

“Celia Facilier, Dizzy Tremaine, Gil, Harry, and Uma.” Ben listed. He looked at them. “I know that you mentioned Celia and Dizzy were part of your crew, and you talk about them a lot. They’re younger, so I thought it might be good to bring over some kids in a different age range. I know you were hesitant to bring over Uma because she needs to keep the other kids safe, but she deserves to be a kid too and I have a plan to help the others.” 

“What is it?” Mal asked, her hand coming up to stroke Evie’s arm.

“I want to send over Lonnie’s dad’s army. They have been trained extensively, so I think they are the best equipped to handle any issues on the Isle. I know you’re worried about Quinton’s army, but I think Shang can handle it. They will go over and deliver applications to all of the children, and if they want to come over, they can fill it out and give it back. That way, we can see how many kids we need to bring in. If there are any kids who don’t fill out an application, but we know they’re in a terrible situation, we’ll make that decision ourselves. If they’re too young, then a parent or sibling or someone can fill it out for them.” 

He could see the weary looks on their faces. “They don’t know how dirty villains fight.” Carlos finally said. 

“They’ll handle it. They are adults, and they can deal with problems for once. Keeping all of these kids safe shouldn’t be this huge responsibility on Uma’s shoulders.” 

“I think we need to try.” Evie chimed in. “We made a promise to Uma and Harry, and they deserve to come here. Like Ben said, she should get to be a kid too.” 

“How quickly will all this happen?” Mal asked. 

“We’re having a council meeting tomorrow where I will tell them who is being brought over, and that Shang’s army is going to the Isle. He’s already aware and making preparations as we speak. I want to have the first five brought over by early next week.” It was Friday now, so Ben knew this was pretty ambitious, but he didn’t want to wait. “We need to make this happen quickly before anything escalates between Uma and Quinton. I don’t want anyone to try and give a reason why Uma shouldn’t be brought over. This will probably be the last group brought over until after my coronation, and then as long as everything goes well, I want to try and bring over a bigger group.” 

Ben’s coronation was in one month, and he knew that once he had a little more control, he could do things how he wanted. He had no doubt that the newest group of VKs would come to Auradon and do just as well as Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos had. He just needed to make sure the council could clearly see how well they were all adjusting and adapting so that they would give approval for a larger group. 

“Do we have to go to the Isle to get them?” Jay wondered. 

As soon as he said the words, Ben could see them all tense up. “No, absolutely not.” Ben answered wearily, wondering if they would be upset. “After last time, I would never make you all go back there. It is way too dangerous.” 

“We can do it.” Jay chimed in. “Your guards won’t know how to handle things.”

“You met Uma. You saw how stubborn she is. I don’t know if she would trust them.” Evie added. 

“I agree with Ben.” Mal stated, surprising him slightly. “We’re staying in Auradon. Let the guards actually do their own job for once.” She kissed Evie’s cheek. 

He could tell Evie wanted to argue, but she just sighed and leaned into Mal. Jay and Carlos didn’t speak. “Any other questions? Or any useful information you think we need to know?” 

Surprisingly, it was Evie who spoke. “Ben, you have done so much for me, and I am so grateful to you, but I need to ask for one more favor.” 

Ben nodded. He would do anything for the blue haired girl, especially now that he knew all of the horrors she had been through. “Anything.” 

“I need you to make sure that Quinton never leaves the Isle.” She pleaded. “I know that he was born on the Isle, so technically he would be included in being given an application to come to Auradon, but you have to keep him there.”

Ben had already considered that. He reached a hand out slowly so he didn’t startle her and then grabbed her hand. “Evie, you never have to worry about him. I don’t know much about Quinton, but I know that he was not a good person in your life. I would never, ever approve for him to be brought to Auradon, okay?” 

Evie nodded. “Okay. Thank you.” 

“Thank you.” Mal repeated. 

“Thanks.” Carlos and Jay chimed in. 

Ben couldn’t help but wonder what the deal was with Quinton. He had never heard the story of what happened between him and Evie, and he was surprised that his name had never come up during the council meeting when they were talking about their pasts. All he knew was that Evie had reacted horribly when she thought she was video chatting with her brother and then it was Quinton instead. He knew that Mal had to kill a member of Quinton’s crew because she was scared that he would go back and tell him that they were on the Isle. He knew that Evie’s mother had said that maybe she should give her to Quinton and let him have one last turn with her (and given what he knew know, he could only imagine what that meant). He knew that Uma was fighting a war for territory with him and that the VKs had said Uma would protect the kids, meaning that Quinton must have hurt children on the Isle before. 

No matter what, he would make sure Quinton never stepped foot in Auradon. 

“Thank you for coming and talking to us, Ben.” Evie said after a moment had passed. 

Ben stood, knowing he had a lot to get ready before the council meeting tomorrow. “Of course.” He let the princess walk him over to the door. 

“You gave in really easy on not going to pick up Uma and the others.” Jay whispered to Mal once Evie was out of hearing range. 

“Evie can’t take another hit from the Isle.” Mal responded quietly. “She’s finally making progress, and being back there will ruin everything. As far as I’m concerned, Evie will never be going to the Isle again.” 

\-----

The entire council sat before Ben, waiting to hear his announcement. He was grateful that they had all been willing to travel back to Auradon even though they had just been here a week ago for the first meeting. 

“As we discussed last week, more children will be brought over from the Isle of the Lost.” Ben began. “I have selected five children with the help of Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos. This process will begin later today when General Li Shang and his army cross the bridge and go to the Isle. They will have applications for all children born on the Isle to fill out. They will be maintaining the peace and making sure that the children are able to cross over the bridge safely. 

“As you may be aware, there is currently a war for territory going on. This is between two rival groups- Uma, the daughter of Ursula, and Quinton, the son of the Queen of Hearts. In order to stop this war, I will be bringing Uma over to Auradon. When I went to the Isle to help the VKs retrieve Evie’s daughter, I met Uma. She is a young girl who has been hurt by the trauma caused by this island and she is only fighting because she wants to keep her territory safe so the other children have a place to live. Before she comes to Auradon, I will ask her to speak to her crew and have them support Shang and his army.” 

“How can we trust that they will do this?” Prince Charming questioned. 

“The children on the Isle are very loyal to their crews. I will also be delivering a message from Mal to the rest of her crew saying that they are to stand down and work with Uma’s crew to help Shang’s army. If we can get these children on our side, Shang will have a much easier time with keeping peace.” Ben looked at the council, seeing that so far, they were all nodding along in agreement with him. “I will also be bringing Harry Hook and Gil LeFou, who are Uma’s two closest associates. You may also remember that Harry is Evie’s half-brother. Gil and Harry are 17, and Uma is 16. The other two children are a little younger. They are Celia Facilier, daughter of Dr. Facilier, and Dizzy Tremaine, daughter of Drizella.” 

Ben glanced at the council members who were connected to these new children. Ariel and Eric, Tiana and Naveen, and Cinderella and Prince Charming all seemed okay with these changes. He turned to his own parents, wondering if they would be upset that he had chosen Gaston’s son. Of course, he had already warned them before hand, but they just gave him reassuring smiles. 

“Are we not going to talk about the elephant in the room?” 

Ben looked over at Jasmine when she spoke. “What do you mean?” 

“The reason these children have suffered so much is all because of one person.” Her eyes narrowed as she stared at King Adam. “Your father.” 

“I agree.” Elsa chimed in. “How were we not made aware that so more horror was going on? I was under the impression that there were guards keeping the peace on the Isle, and that they were given enough rations that they were constantly fighting for survival. I know that Arendelle has been contributing the agreed upon amount.”   
Just like that, the room erupted in chaos. All of the royals started to call out their opinions, and they were all pretty much the same- they all blamed Adam for the fact that the VKs had lived such a difficult life. 

Surprisingly, Ben watched as his father just sat there and took it. He listened to every single criticism and nodded his head along, taking in their concerns. He knew that his father had a quick temper and often didn’t respond well to being told he had done something wrong. But right now, he was proud of him for actually acknowledging his wrongs. 

“I made a lot of mistakes.” Adam stated once the room finally quieted down. “I let things get out of control, and for that, I take full responsibility. I didn’t realize how terrible things had gotten, and that is a mistake that I will have to live with for the rest of my life. But I know that my son will do a much better job than I ever dreamed of. Ben is working so hard to change things on the Isle of the Lost, and he will succeed. I know his coronation isn’t for another month, but he is taking control of all matters of the island. He will be letting us know as quickly as possible what we can do to change things on the Isle until we can bring all of the children over, and even how we can improve the villains’ quality of life. I know that I am at fault for most of this, and I sincerely apologize to all of you for letting this get out of hand.” 

Everyone started to voice their approval for what Ben had been doing so far, but the sixteen year old didn’t care about that. He was so proud of his father for finally acknowledging that he had some responsibility in this. 

As he stood in front of the council, he realized that he had finally won over all of their trust. He was really, truly going to be able to make his dream of helping the children on the Isle a reality.


	42. A Promise Fulfilled

_Mal had spent very little time in Bargain Castle lately. It had been a while since she actually stepped foot into her mother’s home, and that was all because of the two girls who her entire life revolved around. Though she wasn’t going home, she kept up on her jobs for her mother, doing those that absolutely needed to be done herself and passing the easier things off to other crew members._

_Mal knew that eventually, she had to make an appearance, but she was waiting until it was absolutely necessary. Then, on a random weekday, Jay came into the hideout._

_“Hey.” He greeted, tossing his backpack on the ground as he walked up the stairs to the hideout. “We’ve got a problem.”_

_“What’s wrong?” Evie asked, her voice sounding nervous immediately. She was sitting on the couch and breastfeeding the baby, who was half asleep. Ellie was six months old now and getting cuter every day. Mal, who had Evie sitting between her legs and leaning against her chest, couldn’t help but smile when she watched Ellie reach up and grab a lock of her mother’s hair._

_“I just got stopped by Ginny Gothel. Maleficent wants to see you, Mal.”_

_The purple haired girl sighed. “Did she say when?”_

_“I’m assuming now.”_

_Mal carefully squeezed out from behind Evie, doing her best not to jostle her or the baby. “You two don’t leave her side.” She said to the boys, who nodded obediently._

_“M…” Evie began wearily._

_“Shhh.” Mal leaned down and gave her a gentle kiss. “Just worry about eating and sleeping. When she falls asleep, you need to lay down and take a nap with her. I’ll be back soon, baby.” She pressed another quick kiss to her lips, then looked at Jay and Carlos again. “I’m serious. Unless there are extreme circumstances, none of you leave the hideout.”_

_“We won’t.” Carlos promised._

_“I’ll see you guys soon.” Mal stroked her fingers over Evie’s cheek, then touched Ellie’s back, and then turned and walked down the stairs._

_Mal knew better than to keep her mother waiting, so she moved quickly through the streets of the market. Normally, she would stop and assert power whenever possible, but right now she just wanted to get this over with. Ellie was going through a phase where she was only sleeping in short spurts and Evie had been up with her for close to 24 hours, so she needed to be there to take over so her girl could get some sleep._

_She entered the castle, finding her mother in the throne room. “You asked for me?” she said, quick and to the point._

_Maleficent whipped around, facing her with a smirk. “Hello, Mal. It’s been a while.”_

_“I’ve been taking care of some things.” She answered dryly._

_“You have.” Maleficent agreed. “Things have never run so smoothly before. You have been keeping any issues out of our territory, especially that spoiled little prince.”_

_Mal felt her blood boil at the mention of Quinton. “He won’t be a problem.”_

_“I have something for you.” Maleficent was turned around, then faced back towards her with four pieces of rolled up paper in her hand. She dropped them on the table in front of her._

_Mal came over, picking up the closest one. She read through it, getting more and more confused the further she read. “What is this?”_

_“The prince of Auradon is requesting that you, Jay, Carlos, and Evie come and attend Auradon Prep.” Her heart stopped momentarily when she heard Evie’s name. No one had seen her for 15 months now, and Mal wanted to say that she was dead, but she figured her mother probably already knew the truth._

_Mal scoffed. “They really think we would want to live with those prissy princesses?”_

_Maleficent smiled. “You will be going.”_

_“No.” Mal answered._

_Her mother rose to her feet and looked down at her only child. “You will do as a say, child. While you are in Auradon, you will be doing a job for me.”_

_Mal knew better than to argue when she saw the deranged look in Maleficent’s eye. “What is the job?”_

_“It’s easy, really. Get Fairy Godmother’s wand and open the barrier. Then, we will rule over Auradon.” She grinned, causing a shiver to run down Mal’s spine. “This is the best chance we have gotten in 20 years to escape this dreadful island. You are going to do as I say.”_

_“Yes, Mother.” Mal agreed._

_“I’ll give you some time to share the news with your allies. You will leave in three days.”_

_Mal left without another word. She took the longest route to the hideout. She made sure that no one was following her; she couldn’t risk anyone finding out where Evie had been living for over a year now._

_She hit the sign with the rock on the first try and went upstairs. As soon as she came up, she saw Evie, Jay, and Carlos all sitting on the couch. They stood immediately._

_“You were supposed to be sleeping.” Mal chastised._

_“You know I can’t sleep without you.” Evie came over to her. She cupped her cheek, gently turning her face from side to side. “You look okay.”_

_“She didn’t hurt me.” Mal promised, gripping Evie’s hand in her own and pressing a kiss to the top of it. “But you’re not going to like what she had to say.”_

_“What’s wrong?” Carlos questioned._

_“Letters came from Auradon.” She pulled them out of her jacket and dropped them onto the table. “The prince is asking that the four of us come live in Auradon and go to school.”_

_Evie, Jay, and Carlos looked just as confused as Mal felt. “But why?”_

_“I don’t know, something about some Villain Kid Exchange Program.” Mal ran a hand through her hair. “Maleficent wants us to get to Fairy Godmother’s wand and open the barrier.”_

_“No.” Evie said simply._

_Jay looked at her in surprise. “What do you mean ‘no’? You’ve always dreamed of living in Auradon.”_

_“I have a baby now, Jay. She is depending on me, and this letter definitely isn’t inviting teenaged mothers to bring their kids with them.”_

_“If Maleficent wants us to go, we don’t really have a choice.” Carlos reminded the others. “She’ll find a way to get us there. You know she won’t stop until we listen, and that increases the chance that she could somehow find out about Ellie. It might not be worth it to put up a fight.”_

_“He has a good point.” Jay agreed. “Unless we sneak her over with us.”_

_“That’s going to be impossible, and then we’ll end up right back where we are now, but we will be exposed.” Evie argued. She ran a hand through her hair, then looked at her girlfriend. “What do we do, M?”_

_Mal thought it over. The way she saw it, they only had a few options. “Here are the choices. We can ignore Maleficent and stay here, or sneak Ellie over to Auradon with us, or we can have some of us go and some of us stay, or we could temporarily leave Ellie behind and then make sure things are safe and bring her over.”_

_“Like Carlos said, ignoring Maleficent isn’t really an option.” Jay chimed in._

_“And like Evie said, neither is sneaking Ellie over with us.” Carlos added._

_“So that leaves us with two choices- some of us stay here with Ellie, or all four of us go and then we come back for her.”_

_“This is bullshit.” Evie announced before standing up and leaving the room._

_Mal sighed. She knew that Evie wouldn’t react well to this conversation, so none of this was unexpected. “I’m gonna go talk to her.” She told the boys, who just nodded sympathetically._

_She went into the room that she shared with her girlfriend. Evie was laying on the bed next to Ellie, her eyes focused on the six month old._

_“Hey.” Mal greeted gently. “Can I sit?”_

_“Mmhmm.” Evie hummed._

_Mal came over and laid down on Ellie’s other side so that she and Evie could face each other. She reached out and wrapped an arm around the blue haired girl’s waist._

_“I know that this is hard. No matter what we decide, this is going to suck.” She told her. “I tried to tell her that we weren’t going, but she made it pretty clear that this wasn’t optional.”_

_“I can’t leave her behind, Mal.” Evie whispered so that she didn’t disturb the sleeping baby. “There is no way I can just pack my bags and walk across that bridge knowing that there is an ocean and a magical barrier separating us.”_

_“Then let’s think about the possibility of some of us staying behind.”_

_“You couldn’t stay.” Evie said. “As much as I wish we could just have the boys go and then you and I stay with Ellie, you know that wouldn’t work. Maleficent would lose it if she realized you didn’t go, and then we would be right back to square one with her trying to tear the Isle apart to find you.”_

_“So then you stay with Jay.” Mal tried instead. She was already uncomfortable with leaving Ellie behind, and leaving Evie was absolutely out of the question. But she knew her girlfriend had a solid point._

_“I don’t think Jay would be able to stay either. Maleficent and Jafar work together a lot, and I’m sure she’s already told him about this. He would never miss out on an opportunity for his son to go to a kingdom where there are all kinds of riches to steal.”_

_Mal felt sick. She loved Carlos, but there was no way that she could leave him behind and expect him to take care of himself, plus Evie and Ellie. “I don’t know if Carlos could handle it.” She whispered, not wanting the boy to hear her. “You know he already has so many expectations at home. He’s not the best fighter, so it would be difficult for him to get supplies on drop off days. You can’t leave the hideout at all, so I don’t know how it would work.”_

_“It wouldn’t.” Evie told her. Mal’s stomach turned when she saw Evie’s eyes fill with tears. “That leaves us with only one choice.”_

_“We leave her behind.” Mal muttered. “I don’t know how we would even do that.”_

_“Uma.” Evie answered. “Uma and Harry are the only people I would trust to take care of Ellie.”_

_As much as Mal hated to admit it, she agreed. Uma’s crew had been doing everything in their power to help keep Mal’s territory safe. If it wasn’t for them, Evie wouldn’t have had enough food or protection during her pregnancy, and who knows where they would be now._

_“This would be only temporary.” Mal reassured her. She moved her hand away from Evie’s waist and tangled it in her hair instead, using her grip to bring her closer so they could rest their foreheads against each other. “We go to Auradon and do our best to fit in. We make friends, follow the rules, and prove that we can be good. Then, we find a way to win over their trust and we get them to expand the program and accept more villain kids. We’ll recommend Ellie for the first round, and she’ll be safe.”_

_Finally, Evie’s tears started to spill over. “I don’t want to leave her.”_

_“I know, baby.” Mal pulled Evie close, making sure that they weren’t crushing Ellie between them. “Take some deep breaths. It’s going to be okay. I know this will hurt, but it’s only for a little while. Think about it, E. Ellie won’t ever have to worry about all the things we’ve worried about. She can just be a normal kid and live a happy, safe life. We have to do this, for her.”_

_Evie cried in her arms for a while. After she finally calmed down, she sniffled and lifted her head to look at Mal. “How long do we have?”_

_“Three days.” Mal replied._

_Evie sighed and sat up. Mal watched as she carefully slipped into her uncaring, unfeeling mask that she had always had to wear when terrorizing the Isle, her face going entirely blank. “Then I guess we better go set up a meet with Uma’s crew.”_

\-----

_“Move quickly.” Mal mumbled as they got closer to the docks. Not many people were aware that four children from the Isle were being brought to Auradon, and Mal intended on keeping it that way. Uma’s crew and her own crew had created a border to keep any unnecessary people out of the way. Mal wanted as little people as possible to see Evie._

_The blue haired girl was walking right in front of her, a bag slung over her shoulder. She was standing perfectly straight, her head held high and her shoulders up, but Mal could see right through her. They hadn’t slept at all last night, instead spending their time crying over their little girl._

_Jay was leading the group and he abruptly stopped, causing Carlos to bump into him. Evie was right after him, but managed to stop before she ran into the younger boy._

_“Jafar, Maleficent, and Cruella are waiting.” Jay announced. “No sign of the Evil Queen.”_

_“Then let’s move quick.” Mal ordered._

_Jay led the way through the buildings until they were able to get down to the docks. Once they were in front of their parents, he stepped back slightly, allowing Mal to take her spot. He made sure that he had Carlos and Evie on either side of him, his hand slipping into the girl’s._

_“There they are.” Maleficent said with a smile. Mal glanced over, seeing that the Auradon guards looked extremely nervous about the three villains standing close by. “Enjoy your time away, child. Remember all that I taught you. Do not disappoint me.”_

_“Don’t forget where you came from, boy.” Jafar called out._

_Then, Cruella started to rant about how Carlos wasn’t leaving. Just like that, the three parents broke out into an argument._

_“Go.” Mal turned around, gently pushing Evie towards the limo. She grabbed her bag from her hand and then stood in front of the door until Evie climbed inside. She tossed both of their bags in the trunk and looked over to the other side to check on the boys. Jay was pushing Carlos into the car, and then he put his bags in the trunk too._

_Mal got inside, closing the door behind her. She scooted over until Evie was squished between her and Carlos, and then Jay got in on the other side._

_“Drive.” She ordered the guard sitting in the front seat._

_“You don’t have to tell me twice.” He mumbled in response._

_Mal looked over at Evie as the car started to move. Her girlfriend was staring out the back window at the island that had been their home since they were born. She knew that Evie wouldn’t miss anything about that dreaded place, but she would be a mess until the day her daughter was back in her arms._

_Then, she heard Evie’s breath hitch slightly. Mal turned around to look out the window. She saw Quinton and the Evil Queen emerge from the shadows, both of their gazes glued on the limo._

_Mal grabbed Evie’s arm and yanked her down. She knew that her bright blue hair was pretty hard to miss and that they had most likely seen her, but she wouldn’t give them the chance to stare._

_“Breathe.” She commanded, cradling Evie’s cheeks in her hands. “It doesn’t matter. Just take a deep breath and keep your mind focused on what we are going to Auradon to do. We are going to have Ellie back with us soon, and we’re going to help all of the kids.”_

_Evie nodded. “I know.”_

_They watched in fascination as the driver pressed a button. Suddenly gold sparkles swirled around the limo as the magical bridge was formed, allowing them to drive over to Auradon._

_Mal could feel her magic come in the moment it happened. It was like all of a sudden, she could feel something vibrating underneath her skin. It didn’t necessarily hurt, but it was a little uncomfortable._

_“How do you feel?” Evie questioned. “Are you in pain?”_

_“I can feel the magic, but it doesn’t hurt.” Mal reached into her pocket, pulling out the slip of paper that she had stashed there. She looked at Evie’s perfect, neat handwriting on the page. “Are you ready?”_

_“Mmhmm.”_

_Mal chanted the spell that Evie had written down for her after doing some research with Carlos. She said the words, waiting to see what would happen._

_Then, Evie whimpered. Her hands went straight to her chest as she felt her body stop producing milk. That was something that Carlos had thought of; if the Auradonians saw that Evie had breastmilk coming out, they would know something strange was going on. They had to time the news about Ellie perfectly, and their first day in Auradon definitely wasn’t the time to let them know that Evie was a sixteen year old mother._

_“I think it worked.” Evie said with a grimace._

_“Almost there.” Jay informed them._

_Mal leaned forward and gave Evie a quick kiss. “You’ve got this, Pretty Girl. We’re going to stay strong and handle this together, okay?”_

_Evie nodded in confirmation. “Together.”_

\-----

Three months and one week after being brought to Auradon, it was time for the VKs to welcome the five newest members of the VK Exchange Program. They were all excited and couldn’t wait to see their allies. 

It had taken a few days more than anticipated to calm things down on the Isle. So far from what Ben had told them, Shang’s army was keeping the peace and he had Mal’s crew and Uma’s crew on his side. Evie had been glad to hear that no one was causing unnecessary trouble. 

This time, they had made the decision to just have those who were necessary standing outside to welcome Uma, Harry, Gil, Dizzy, and Celia. Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos had told Ben how overwhelmed they were when he had an entire parade and a marching band playing when they came, and he had agreed to tone it down. 

That left King Adam, Queen Belle, Ben, Fairy Godmother, Audrey, and the VKs to welcome the five teenagers. Evie was so excited that she could hardly stand it. She knew that Dizzy would be ecstatic and she couldn’t wait to show her all of the things they had always daydreamed about. She wanted to see Harry and Uma and check in with them to make sure they were okay; she wasn’t happy with how they had left things last time, and she needed them to know how sorry she was. She knew that Mal would be happy to see Celia (even though she would pretend she wasn’t). 

“Can I hold this little cutie?” Audrey asked as she walked over to them. 

Evie nodded, holding out Ellie to her. Her daughter wasn’t one to be shy around strangers, and she absolutely adored Audrey. She gave her a gummy smile and then went back to playing with the stuffed dragon in her hand. 

“I need to see this beauty.” Fairy Godmother gushed as she joined Audrey. Evie smiled, knowing that Ellie was in good hands. 

Mal reached out and grabbed her hand. “How are you feeling?”

“Excited.” Evie admitted. “This is the first step in helping everyone. I can’t wait until there are no more children being abused by their parents.” 

Mal kissed her forehead. “This is all because of you. You’re amazing.” 

The limo came within their sight range, so Evie didn’t respond. She waited silently, having to remind herself to breathe as the limo pulled up in front of them. 

Ben and his parents were standing right in front with the VKs behind them, and then Audrey and FG off to the side. Everyone stood perfectly still as they waited for the door to open. 

The first one out was Harry, and Evie couldn’t help but notice his defensive posture immediately. His hook was raised and he was scowling. She stepped forward, going to stand by Ben in hopes that if her brother saw her, he would calm down. 

Dizzy climbed out right behind him, and then Celia. It didn’t go unnoticed by Evie that Harry instantly stepped in front of both girls, offering them protection. 

The next one out was Uma, who looked even more on edge than Harry, if that was possible. She went to her first mate’s side. 

The last person out made Evie’s heart stop. 

“Uh, where is Gil?” Carlos questioned from somewhere behind her. 

Evie felt like her ears were ringing. Her hands started to shake as she struggled to suck in air. 

Black hair, nearly black eyes. He smelled rotten, like dead flowers. As soon as he smiled, Evie swore it felt like someone had punched her in the stomach. 

“Hello, my Queen.” Quinton greeted with a sickening grin. He came over and stood right in front of her. 

“Hi Q.” Evie practically whispered. There was no way this could be happening. 

Before she could stop it, Quinton leaned in and gave her a kiss. Evie didn’t react, just standing there as if she was frozen. When he moved away, she could see Adam, Belle, and Ben staring at her in confusion. 

“It’s been so long since we’ve been alone together. You must know a place.” He grabbed her arm, pulling her close to him. 

Over the past three months, Evie had grown up a lot. She had acknowledged a lot of her pain and confronted so many of her demons. But when it came to Quinton, she still had no idea how to handle him. She just stood there, frozen in shock and wishing that she would wake up from this horrible nightmare. 

All of a sudden, Evie felt someone else grab her arm and yank her backwards. She stumbled back, then felt an arm lock around her waist as the smell of strawberries surrounded her. _Mal_.

Quinton rose up to his full height, his eyes darkening as he stepped closer. Evie felt Jay and Carlos come up and stand right next to them, her crew daring the boy who had caused her so much pain to try something. 

“Back the fuck up.” Mal threatened. 

But Quinton just laughed, his eyes locked on Evie. “You know I always get what I want, precious.” 

“The five of you, come along. We need to go to the health center.” Adam stepped in to interrupt the awkward conversation. 

Evie glanced over towards Uma, Harry, Celia, and Dizzy, who were all staring at her in concern. But she still felt like her legs were jello and when she opened her mouth to speak, no air came out. 

“Come with me.” Ben said to the VKs. “Audrey, FG, would you mind going with my parents to the health center?” 

“Of course.” Fairy Godmother nodded solemnly, offering Evie a small smile as she passed her. Carlos reached out to take Ellie from Audrey.

“Hey, look at me.” Evie heard Mal say. Her eyes darted towards her involuntarily. “You have to keep it together. Take a deep breath, Pretty Girl.”

Evie took a deep breath, but it came out shaky. “Mal.”

“I know.” Mal pulled her into a tight hug. “I know, baby. Just breathe.” 

Evie stood there for a moment, wrapped in her girlfriend’s arms as she did her best to calm down. She just didn’t understand how any of this was happening. 

No one spoke again until they made it to Ben’s office. The five of them walked into the room, the prince leading the way over to the seating area. He sat in the chair behind his desk. Mal sat in the chair across from it and pulled Evie onto her lap. Carlos sat in the chair next to her with Ellie on his lap, and Jay stood behind the two chairs. 

“I’m assuming that is Quinton?” Ben asked. 

Evie whimpered involuntarily as soon as she heard his name. She felt Mal’s fingers wind through her hair and then all of a sudden, she was being pulled towards her girlfriend. She buried her face in her neck and took a few more deep breaths. The last thing she wanted was to have a panic attack. 

“How the fuck is he here?” Mal demanded. “What happened to bringing Gil?” 

“I swear that Shang’s army was told to bring Gil.” Ben answered quickly. “I don’t know how they brought him instead.” 

“You have to send him back.” Jay said. “There’s no way that sick fuck can stay here.” 

“I don’t know if I can.” Ben admitted. 

“What?” Mal shouted. “Why the fuck not? You’re the prince of Auradon, for fuck’s sake. Shouldn’t you get some say?”

“Because the program would be shut down.” Carlos realized. 

Ben nodded along to his statement. “If I send him back, the council will want to know why. If I say that they brought the wrong person, they will question if Shang’s army is qualified to be doing this job. If I tell them he is dangerous, everyone in Auradon will freak out and they will go back to thinking that the VKs are just as evil as their parents. Either way, the program will most likely be shut down.” 

Evie just clung to Mal tighter. “Please, M.” she begged. “He can’t be here.” 

“Evie?” Ben called out to her. She really wanted to just ignore him, but he had done so much for them. She owed it to him to respond, so she lifted her head up and made eye contact. “You’re shaking. Do you want some water or something?” 

“No.” she pinched her wrist, trying to keep herself grounded. Almost instantly, she felt Mal’s hand wrap around her arm and bring it up. She pressed her lips against the spot Evie had just pinched. 

“I’m going to fix this.” Ben promised. “But for me to do that, I need to know what I’m dealing with. During the council meeting, I was waiting for you to bring his name up because I know he wasn’t a great person in your life, but you never mentioned him. I need you to be honest and tell me about who Quinton is.” 

The last thing in the world Evie wanted to do was sit here and confess one more part of her past to Ben. But at the same time, she needed him gone. Ben had proven himself to be trustworthy, and if he knew what Quinton had done, he would try his best to keep her safe. She needed him as far away from her, Ellie, and Mal as possible. 

“You don’t have to do this.” Mal whispered. “I can tell him. You can go back to the room with the boys and I’ll tell him the bare minimum.” 

“I can do it.” Evie said wearily. She didn’t know if she was actually going to be able to get through this story, but she was going to try her best. She looked at Ben. “According to my mother, Quinton and I are betrothed.” 

Ben looked at her in confusion. “What?” 

Evie sighed. “You know that she didn’t want me to be with Mal. On my 15th birthday, I came home and she gave me this tight dress and new jewelry. She told me I was too used up for any Auradon princes, but she found one hiding on the Isle whose family had riches and could help us. She told me that I would be his queen and that he could take whatever he wanted from me, whenever he wanted, and there was nothing I could do about it. She choked me against and wall and told me to try and run off with Mal now. Then he came over and she gave me to him.” 

Mal wrapped her arms around Evie, giving her a tight hug. The blue haired girl melted into her, trying to keep herself from freaking out. She knew that she could stop there, but she needed Ben to know just how horrible Quinton is. 

“He lived on the other side of the island, so he would keep me for a week at a time, and then let me go back to my mother’s castle.” Evie stated, her head resting on Mal’s chest as she spoke. “After I got away from him, I would always run to Mal and the boys and stay with them for the night. That first time I got away from him, I told Mal that I wanted to kill myself because I couldn’t keep letting this happen.” She sat up so the prince could see her. “He hurt me, Ben. For three months, my mother forced me to go back to him. He…he…” Evie looked wearily towards Mal and the boys. She had never told them what happened when she was with Quinton, and they never asked. She would come back covered in bruises and they would just help her clean up and cuddle her until she felt better. 

“You can tell me if you want, but you don’t have to.” Ben interrupted when he noticed her struggling. “I get it.” 

Evie felt the anxiety bubbling up in her stomach as she let anger fill her body in response to Ben’s words. “But you don’t get it. He degraded me and spoke down to me more than any other person I have ever known, and that’s a pretty big deal considering everything that has happened in my life and who I had as a mother. I’ve been touched and hurt by so many men, but it was never as bad as when he did it. The amount of bruises and blood and how many times he hurt my ribs was disgusting. He loved to hit me, especially in the face, and there were times when he would tie me down and just beat me.” She rubbed her wrists unconsciously. “He told me he loved a challenge, so if I didn’t scream and fight back, he would hurt me even worse. That’s what his comment was about when we did the video chat and he said it wasn’t fun to play with things that you have already broken. 

“When I was with him, he very rarely gave me food or water. I wasn’t able to sleep because if I closed my eyes, he would hurt me. He loved to play mind games, and he would bring other men from his crew into the room to watch how he hurt me. He would inject me with needles that were full of different chemicals so he could see my reaction- sometimes they worked like a temporary paralyzer, sometimes they made you hallucinate, it all just depended on the potion, and I’m pretty sure he got them from my mother. He loved when I would have nightmares and…” 

“Stop.” Mal interrupted. Evie had been staring straight ahead at the wall, and her girlfriend’s voice pulled her out of the deep, dark place she had gone to in her mind. She was suddenly aware of the fact that she was sitting with Mal, Jay, Carlos, and Ben and that they were listening to her describing the details of Quinton’s torture. She had never told them this before. Carlos tried to subtly wipe a tear away, Jay was clenching his fists, and when she dared to look at Mal, the purple haired girl looked close to throwing up. It wasn’t until her eyes focused in on Ellie that she realized she had just confessed all of this in front of her baby girl.

Evie stood up from Mal’s lap, needing to put a little distance between herself and the others. She started to pace, trying to focus on her breathing and getting calmed down. But she knew that she was too far gone at this point. Her chest was burning, her hands were shaking, she was close to throwing up, and she knew there was no way she wouldn’t have a nightmare tonight. 

Quinton had been in Auradon for less than an hour now and already he was ruining everything. 

“So what’s the plan here?” Ben asked, interrupting the silence that had settled over the room in the past few minutes. “What can we do?” 

Evie stared blankly, trying to avoid making eye contact with her friends. “There’s only one thing we can do.” 

Ben frowned. “What is it?” 

Mal stood up. “We’re going to kill him.” 

Ben started to protest, but Mal was already walking towards the door. She reached out a hand towards Evie. The blue haired girl let her hold her hand, and Mal led her out of the room, the boys following behind them. 

Evie knew that there was going to be a long night ahead of her. She just wanted to lay in bed and stay there until all of this was over. 

\-----

Ever since she saw Quinton step out of the limo, Mal’s heart had been racing. 

She had pictured his death in many, many ways over the last few years. In the three months that her girlfriend had been given to Quinton, she would come home with more bruises and in more pain than from all the other men combined. As soon as she saw his smug expression, Mal had started plotting all the ways she could get to him and end his useless life. 

And then Evie told them what had happened with him. 

It had always been an off-limits topic between them. When Evie would come home after a ‘lesson’, Mal never dared to ask what went on. She didn’t think she could stomach it, and she couldn’t stand the thought of putting Evie through having to explain it. So instead of asking for specifics, she would just give her a bath, wrap her up in warm clothes, and hold her until she felt safe again.

There were some things that she had been able to deduct on her own. She figured that Quinton hadn’t given Evie food or water because when she would come back and finally settle down enough to eat, she would practically inhale whatever was given to her. She had noticed the red rings around Evie’s wrists and guessed that she had been tied up, but she never let her mind linger on that for too long because the thought made her sick. 

But Evie’s story about what happened with Quinton explained so much about the quirks her girlfriend had. After they came to Auradon, it was pretty clear that Evie was scared of needles, and Mal had never been sure why. It wasn’t like they got vaccinations or anything on the Isle, and she knew Evie hadn’t ever done any of the drugs that were floating around. The thought of Quinton injecting Evie with dangerous, potentially life-threatening potions on the Isle, especially given the detail that they came from Evie’s mother, made Mal’s blood boil. 

Then there was the fact that she said she wasn’t allowed to sleep. There were times when Evie would go days without sleeping, and Mal had always wondered how she was able to do that. Evie staying awake for days in fear that Quinton would hurt her if she closed her eyes explained why she could stay up for so long, and why she always had a nightmare or panic attack when she did it. 

Now that they were out of Ben’s office and in the safety of their dorm room, Mal didn’t know how to react. Was she supposed to bring all of this up to Evie? Did she just ignore it and pretend the conversation never happened? 

She looked over to Evie and saw that she was reaching out to take Ellie from Carlos. She held the nine month old against her chest and gave her a kiss on the cheek. 

“I’m so sorry you had to hear all that.” She whispered. “Mama is so, so sorry.” 

Mal glanced at the boys, who were both looking at her. They always followed her lead on how to handle these situations with Evie, and it was obvious that they weren’t sure how to approach things either. 

Evie walked into the bathroom with Ellie still in her arms, disappearing from their view. Mal turned to Jay and Carlos. 

“Just stay here for right now, okay? I don’t know what to do. Sit out here and I’ll go check on her.” She reached over and grabbed one of the throw blankets off the bottom of their bed and then went into the bathroom. 

As expected, Evie was sitting in the empty bathtub with Ellie in her arms. She had pulled her shirt up and she was letting the baby breastfeed. When Mal came into the room, she looked at her shyly. 

“Hey Pretty Girl.” Mal said quietly. She turned, closing the bathroom door behind her. “Can I sit with you?”

“Mmhmm.” 

Mal climbed into the tub and brought the blanket with her, wrapping it around the three of them. She made sure to keep a little space between her body and Evie’s, just in case she wasn’t ready for human contact right now. But Evie surprised her by scooting over and leaning her head on her shoulder. They sat together in silence for a few minutes. 

“M?”

“Yeah?”

“What you said earlier…did you really mean it?” 

Mal looked down at her. “About what?”

“Killing him.” 

Mal could feel her eyes glowing. “I’ve never been more serious about anything in my life. I will make sure he never has the chance to get near you again.”

Evie sighed. “I’m sorry I said all of that stuff, especially since Ellie was in the room.” 

“Don’t be sorry.” Mal gave her a gentle kiss on the forehead. “If you were ready to say it, I’m glad that you did. I don’t want you to have to hold things in. If it makes you feel better, then you can always talk.” 

“I know you don’t want to hear about it though.” 

“I don’t think there’s anyone who would want to hear something like that, but I’ll do anything to make you feel better, Evie. Even if you don’t want to talk to me, you can always open up to Dr. Bren and Fairy Godmother.” 

“I don’t really want to talk about it.” Evie admitted. “Even today, I didn’t want to tell you guys about it. But I needed Ben to know that he doesn’t understand the Isle just because he’s heard our stories. There are still so many horrible things that we didn’t explain or go into detail about, but that doesn’t mean it’s not happening.” 

“I get that.” Mal wrapped an arm around her shoulder, pulling Evie closer. “Don’t feel guilty about talking, okay? Ellie is so little and she didn’t understand what you were saying, plus she was more interested in her toy dragon than anything else that was going on.” She looked down at their baby, who was dozing off against her mother’s chest. “I’m sorry that you had to go through all of that.” 

“It doesn’t change things.” Evie stated. 

“What do you mean?”

“These are things that happened over a year ago. I don’t want you to treat me differently now that you know, because it’s not like it’s something new. It already happened and I have already thought about it and done my best to let it go, so please don’t think that you have to treat me a certain way now.” 

“I will do my best.” Mal stroked her cheek. “I promise you that we’re going to figure this out. I won’t let him hurt you.” 

Evie cuddled into her. “I just hope we can find a way that won’t ruin all the progress we’ve made so far.”

“Me too.” Mal agreed. She knew Evie was talking about the VK Exchange Program, and Mal didn’t want that to be messed up either. But it was more important to her that Evie kept progressing in her recovery and getting better. 

No matter what she had to do, she swore to herself that Quinton would be leaving Auradon very soon. 

\-----

Ever since Evie’s confession about who Quinton really was, Ben had felt like he wanted to throw up. Every time he closed his eyes, he imagined the kind, loving teenager he had grown to know being tortured and in pain. He couldn’t stomach the fact that this boy was now in Auradon and just waiting to hurt her again. 

He couldn’t help the nervous feelings inside of him. Ever since Mal stated that they were going to kill Quinton, he had been worried. He knew that Mal had killed Tristan, and that Evie had killed her mother and one of the men who hurt her, and he wouldn’t be surprised to hear if Jay and Carlos had encountered situations before where killing someone was their only way out. But the way they had just so casually turned to violence made him uncomfortable, and he wouldn’t be surprised if Mal actually did make an attempt to take Quinton’s life. 

He couldn’t necessarily blame her, but he also refused to let that happen on his watch. If Mal was to kill Quinton, there would be no doubt in his mind that the council would argue for her to be sent back to the Isle. He didn’t think Evie would survive in Auradon without her girlfriend, and he didn’t want to see any of the VKs sent back. 

He arrived in front of the VKs dorm building that afternoon and waited for them to come outside. He had texted Mal that morning and said he was going to the health center to see the others and that they could come if they wanted. He felt bad that they hadn’t really gotten to talk to Uma, Harry, Dizzy, and Celia, and he figured Evie would want to check in with her brother. 

Ben was surprised when he only saw the purple haired girl come down the stairs. Mal was dressed head to toe in her typical Isle attire, and it put Ben on edge. The only times he had ever seen her dressed like that was when she first arrived in Auradon, and when they went back to the Isle to retrieve Ellie. He knew that Mal’s relationship with Uma was complicated, so she must have dressed that way on purpose to avoid showing weakness. 

“Hey Mal.” He greeted. “Where are Evie and the boys?” 

“They’re not coming. E isn’t ready, and the boys wanted to stay with her.” 

Ben nodded in understanding as they began walking towards the health center. “That makes sense. She has every right to be uncomfortable.” 

“Yeah, well she won’t be uncomfortable for much longer.” 

“You can’t say things like that.” Ben interrupted her cautiously. Mal was unpredictable, especially after an event like the one that happened yesterday, so he planned his next statement carefully to avoid setting her off. “Mal, you can’t kill Quinton.” 

Mal laughed dryly. “Like hell I can’t.” 

“The VK Exchange Program will be shut down. Do you want that to happen?” 

“Let’s get something straight right now. Do I want the other kids from the Isle to be able to come to Auradon? Of course. But Evie is the single most important person in my life, and she is the only thing I’m concerned about right now.” 

“Aren’t you concerned about how she’ll react when you’re sent back to the Isle?” 

“I don’t give a fuck where they send me as long as Evie is safe. She will never be safe if he is still breathing.” 

“Please just take some time to really think this through. I’ve already buried the fact that you killed that boy Tristan, and we were able to get everyone to see why Evie had to kill the Evil Queen and the man who hurt her. But I don’t think I can argue against you killing another VK.” 

They walked the rest of the way to the health center in silence. Ben really hoped that Mal would see his side of things and do her best to avoid making any drastic decisions. 

When they got to the health center, Dr. Bren and Dr. Rhodes were waiting. They led them back to the rooms where all of the VKs were staying. Ben realized right away that Harry, Uma, Celia, and Dizzy were in the same rooms that Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos had been put in when they first came to Auradon. Uma was sitting in her bed, staring towards the door. Harry was laying down and looking up at the ceiling. Dizzy was at the desk and working with some of the art materials that had been laid out there. Celia was sleeping. 

“Where is Quinton?” Mal questioned. 

“We had to put him down the hall. There weren’t enough rooms down here.” Dr. Bren explained.

“How are they doing so far?” Ben asked. 

“They all seem to be adjusting. They are cooperating with exams, eating their meals, and listening to what we say. Sorry to say this, Mal, but this group is much easier than yours so far.” 

Mal cracked a small smile towards the therapist. “Can I see them?” 

“We can let you into their rooms if they allow it, but they’re not ready to be brought together in the common room yet.”

“I want to see Dizzy first.” Mal commented.

Dr. Rhodes went over and knocked on the door. “Dizzy, we have someone here to see you. Do you mind if Mal and Prince Ben come in?” 

“Mal!” Dizzy squealed. 

Dr. Rhodes pressed a button, causing the door to open. Mal led the way inside, Ben following behind her. As soon as she was able, Dizzy launched herself at the girl. Ben couldn’t help but smile; she seemed sweet. 

“Oh my god, I can’t believe I’m really in Auradon! Isn’t it crazy?” she looked past her. “Where’s Evie?” 

“She didn’t come.” Mal said, offering a small smile.

Dizzy’s face suddenly turned solemn. “Is she okay?” 

“She’s alright.” 

“Is everyone okay?” 

Mal nodded. “Ben knows about Ellie. She’s been here for a month now, and she’s settling in really well.” 

“Oh good.” Dizzy sighed in relief. “Will you tell Evie how much I miss her, and that I hope I get to see her soon?”

“Of course, kid.” Mal ruffled her hair affectionately. “I’m gonna go check on the others. You can trust Dr. Bren, Dr. Rhodes, and Fairy Godmother. If they ask you to do something, don’t fight it.” 

Dizzy nodded. “Okay.” She gave her a big hug. “Bye!” she curtsied towards the boy. “It was nice to meet you, Prince Ben.” 

“The pleasure was mine.” He smiled at her, then they exited the room. “She’s sweet.” 

“Dizzy was Evie’s first baby.” Mal stated almost absentmindedly as Dr. Rhodes unlocked the door to Celia’s room. “The two of them can go on about fashion for hours.” 

They went into Celia’s room next. Mal motioned for him to stay by the door, then walked over to her bed.

“Celia.” She called out. 

The dark skinned girl sat up instantly, looking around in confusion. Her eyes landed on Ben first, then she looked at Mal. “Oh. It’s you.”

“How are you holding up?” 

“I hate being locked in here.” Celia complained. “Are you the prince?”

“Yes I am. You must be Celia. I’ve heard a lot about you.” 

“Probably about how I’m the best tarot card reader on the Isle.” She said, tilting her chin upwards. “Have you seen Uma yet?” 

“No, I wanted to check in with you and Dizzy first. They’re going to keep you here for a few more days. Just do what you need to do and you’ll be out of here soon.” 

“Fine.” Celia studied Ben. “Can I at least have my cards back?’

“No.” Mal answered for him. “See you soon.” She waited for Ben to leave the room, then followed behind him. 

“She can have her cards if she wants.” Ben told her once the door was shut. 

“The last thing you need is Celia going around and trying to predict the future of every person who walks into her room. She might seem young and cute, but she can cause a lot of trouble if she wants to.” Mal walked towards Harry’s door next. 

As soon as it opened, the boy was on his feet. “Where is that piece of shit?” 

“In a different hallway.” Mal responded. Ben figured that he must be talking about Quinton. “Welcome to Auradon.” 

Harry scoffed. “You all have a weird way of welcoming people. You just lock us up into rooms?” 

“It’s a rule in the VK Exchange Program.” Ben explained. “You have to have health and mental evaluations before you can come to Auradon Prep. Mal and the others went through the same thing.” 

“Speaking of others, where is Evie? Is she okay?” 

Mal sighed. “She’s not doing so well.”

Harry nodded. “Whatever the plan is, I’m in.” 

Ben stepped forward. “There isn’t a plan yet.” 

Mal rolled her eyes. “Benny-boo, I get that you have this moral compass or whatever that tells you this is wrong, but I need you to see the bigger picture. Quinton spent _months_ beating and torturing and raping the person I love most in this world. Evie told you things yesterday that she had never said to me or the boys before, and that just makes me feel even more strongly about what needs to be done. There is no way I’m giving him the chance to get near her, and there is _definitely _no way I will ever give him the opportunity to find out about Ellie.”__

__“I get that, okay? I don’t know what the right thing to do is, but you can’t kill him.” Ben pleaded. It didn’t go unnoticed that Harry and Mal both looked towards each other in silence._ _

__“How is my niece?”_ _

__Mal reached into her pocket and pulled out her cellphone. She found a picture and held it out, letting Harry and Ben see. It was of Evie and Ellie dressed in their matching Tourney jerseys that resembled Mal’s. The first was of them smiling at each other, and the second was the back of their jerseys._ _

__Harry smiled. “You’re Mommy now, huh?” Mal nodded. “You’ve definitely earned the title.”_ _

__Ben looked back and forth between them. Mal’s cheeks reddened slightly after the pirate’s comment. She put her phone away and looked down at the floor._ _

__“You’ll be out of here in a few days. I’ll tell Evie you said hi.”_ _

__Harry nodded, and that was the end of the conversation. Ben had to remind himself that they were from opposite crews, so he really shouldn’t be expecting some big, happy reunion._ _

__The last room was Uma’s. She stayed seated as they walked inside._ _

__“I’m assuming Blue is good or else you wouldn’t be here.” She stated, looking Mal up and down._ _

__Mal nodded once. “As good as she can be, given the situation.”_ _

__Uma eyed her. “If you don’t get rid of him, I will.”_ _

__The more Ben listened to the VKs talk, the more he became convinced that Quinton was going to die. The fact that this was now the third time someone had blatantly talked about killing Quinton in front of him told him that they weren’t worried about consequences. He knew that he needed to work fast to come up with a plan._ _

__“I just saw Harry, Dizzy, and Celia.” Mal responded. “They’re all fine.”_ _

__“Good to know.”_ _

__“Dr. Bren is our therapist, and she comes off as harsh at first, but she’s good at her job. Dr. Rhodes is cool, and Fairy Godmother is too, once you get past the annoying cheerfulness.”_ _

__Uma rolled her eyes. “Are we really gonna sit here and talk about this?”_ _

__Mal shrugged. “Just thought you would like to know who has proven themselves. Keep an eye on things in here. I’m working on a plan.”_ _

__“ _We_ are working on a plan.” Ben interrupted, knowing that Mal was talking about Quinton again. “We are going to find a way to make things right that doesn’t involve violence.” _ _

__Uma actually laughed out loud, and Mal just turned and walked out of the room. Ben followed after her._ _

__“Can I see Quinton?” she asked Dr. Rhodes._ _

__“No, we actually have something to take care of.” Ben interrupted. “Thank you for your time, ladies.” He said to the doctor, then grabbed Mal’s arm and pulled her out of the health center._ _

__As soon as they were out the doors, Mal yanked her arm out of his grasp. “Ben, I’m going to say this once. You need to mind your own business.”_ _

__“This is my business. In a month, I am going to be in charge of Auradon. I have to protect the people here and prove to them that I am a good king. I care about you and your friends, Mal, and the VK Exchange Program has been my dream for as long as I can remember. I’m not letting you ruin that or doom the rest of those kids to a life of pain and torture.”_ _

__Mal studied him. “What’s the alternative?”_ _

__“Right now, I’m thinking we just keep him locked up.” Ben stated. “We won’t let him out until more children are off the Isle, and then we’ll drop him back there to rot. Honestly, if he’s here and locked away, that solves one of our biggest problems on the Isle. At least we won’t have to worry that he’s hurting anyone.”_ _

__Mal sighed. “For now, that’s fine, but we need to make sure this is full proof. No one is allowed near him, and there are no opportunities for him to get out.”_ _

__“We’ll iron out the details as soon as possible.” Ben agreed. “Just please, don’t try and hurt anyone. Evie needs you here.”_ _

__Mal didn’t say anything as they continued to walk back towards the dorms. When they were about halfway back to the building, Ben finally worked up the courage to ask the question that had been on his mind._ _

__“Hey Mal?” she looked over at him. “Can I ask something?”_ _

__“Go ahead.”_ _

__“Is Quinton Ellie’s father?”_ _

__Mal immediately stopped walking. Ben was alarmed to see that her eyes immediately started glowing._ _

__“No, and don’t you ever say my daughter’s name in the same sentence as that waste of life’s ever again.”_ _

__“I’m sorry.” Ben apologized. “I didn’t mean to make you upset. I just didn’t know if there was a possibility and…”_ _

__“Thanks for letting me go to the health center.” Mal interrupted. “But now, I’ve gotta get back to Evie. You don’t have to walk me all the way there.” She turned around and walked quickly towards the dorms._ _

__Ben watched her go, feeling at a loss for what to do next. He sighed and headed towards his office. He needed to start ironing out the kinks in his plan for what to do with Quinton before Mal had a chance to end things once and for all._ _


	43. On Edge

It had been hard to let Mal leave the room. 

Evie hadn’t slept last night, and when they got a text message from Ben asking if they would come to the health center, Evie’s mind immediately went into overdrive. Mal had held her and assured her that she didn’t have to come. That made her a little calmer, until she realized that the purple haired girl needed to go. Mal had left her in their bed, wrapped up in a warm blanket with the boys only a few feet away to watch over her. 

But ever since Mal had left the room, Evie had been struggling even worse than before (which was saying a lot since she was going on 24 hours of horrible anxiety and borderline panic attacks). In the rational part of her brain, she understood that her girlfriend needed to go to the health center with Ben, and she was glad that someone would be checking on Uma, Harry, Dizzy, and Celia. But on the more emotional side, she couldn’t stand the idea of Mal being so close to Quinton.

“Come here, E.” Jay called from across the room. He was sitting on the bed the boys usually shared. Carlos was showering and Ellie was sleeping, so it was just the two of them. 

Evie got out of bed and went over to her friend. He held out his arms and she instantly sank into them. Jay readjusted their positions so Evie was straddling his lap and pressed against his chest. She cuddled further into him and let him cover them with the blanket. 

“Take a couple deep breaths, Princess. You’re getting yourself worked up.” 

“I want Mal to be here.” Evie hated how shaky her voice sounded. “I don’t want her near him.” 

“I know.” Jay rubbed his hand across her back. Evie couldn’t help but think about how different it felt. Jay’s hands were large and warm, and it was nothing like Mal’s much smaller hands running up and down her spine. It didn’t feel bad, but it just felt different. “But Mal is going to be okay. You know she would kick his ass in a second if he tried anything.” 

Evie sighed. “Do you think he’ll try something? Do you think they’ll let him out? What if they do and…” 

“Stop. You can’t think of scenarios like this. We just need to focus on what we know. Right now, he is in the health center and they’ll keep him there for at least three days. Ben knows the situation and he wouldn’t do anything to hurt you or make you upset. For now, we’re safe.” 

“Yeah, for now!” Evie argued. “Who knows what will happen in three days?” 

“Shhh, just calm down.” Jay squeezed her a little tighter. Evie’s mind was screaming at her to relax, but her body was so tense. She let her eyes shut and focused on the shallow breaths coming in and out of her body. 

A few minutes later, Evie heard the bathroom door open. She could hear Carlos’s shuffled steps moving around the room. “I want Ellie.” She whispered into Jay’s chest. 

“C, can you grab Ellie and come over here?” Jay called out. 

Evie counted the seconds that passed, trying to keep her mind focused. She needed to be okay for Gabriella’s sake. It took 32 seconds for Carlos to pick up Ellie and come over to the bed. He sat next to Jay and Evie opened her eyes, watching as Carlos shifted her daughter to rest against his chest. Her tiny lips were pouted and she looked so peaceful in her sleep. 

The thought of Quinton somehow finding out about Ellie made her feel like she was going to vomit. 

She climbed off of Jay’s lap before he could stop her and started to pace. She needed to focus. Throwing up wasn’t going to help anything, even though she did feel the familiar bubbling in her stomach and knew that if she got upset enough, she might not have a choice in the matter. 

“Evie?” Carlos interrupted her thoughts. “Do you want to feed Ellie?” 

Evie shook her head, his question momentarily catching her attention. “No, she’s sleeping. She’s fine.” 

“It might help to give you something else to think about.” 

“No. I don’t want to wake her.” Evie refused. All of a sudden, she started to gag. 

“Hey, no.” Jay jumped up, putting his hands on her shoulders. “You’re not doing this. Come on, E. Just do what Carlos said.”

“I’m not waking her up!” Evie said a little louder than she meant to. She immediately looked to Ellie, holding her breath in hopes that she didn’t wake up. Luckily, the baby didn’t seem fazed. 

There was a knock on the door and Evie instantly went into panic mode. She lunged forward, taking her daughter out of Carlos’s arms. She ran towards the closet and walked in as far as she could and sat on the floor, keeping Ellie close to her chest. A few seconds later, Carlos joined her, shutting the door behind him and sitting next to her. 

“It’s him, Carlos. It has to be him.” She panicked. 

“Shhh, take a breath.” He wrapped an arm around her shoulder. “We don’t know that.” 

A few seconds later, she heard someone touching the doorknob. Evie clutched Ellie tighter, feeling Carlos pull her closer into his chest. Her eyes were glued to the door, and when it opened, she saw Mal and Jay standing there. 

Evie felt like an idiot. She had been so terrified, and it ended up just being her girlfriend. She felt her cheeks heating up in embarrassment. 

“Hey baby girl.” Mal greeted. “I’m sorry I scared you. I knocked on the door to let you guys know that someone was coming in. I didn’t want to just bust into the room.” She came over and crouched down in front of her. She reached out to touch her cheek, but Evie moved away. 

“Is he still in there?” 

“Yep. They have him locked up in a room in an entirely different area.” Mal sat down flat on her butt, crossing her legs. “Everyone is okay, and they said hi.” 

Evie shook her head as tears filled her eyes. “I can’t do this, M.” 

“Yes you can. You are so strong, Pretty Girl. I know that you’re scared and this is a horrible situation, but we just need to stay focused right now.” Mal held her hand out. “Can I touch you?” 

Evie knew that she was trying to be careful since she had moved away the first time Mal tried to touch her. She decided to take it a little further and pulled away from Carlos so that she could sit on Mal’s lap. 

“There you go.” Mal said, her arm instantly locking around her. “You’re safe, baby. Just close your eyes and breathe for me.” 

Evie didn’t know if it was Mal’s presence or if she was just so worked up, but she felt a little better now. She buried her face in Mal’s neck, inhaling the smell of strawberry shampoo and the scent that was uniquely Mal. Her body was still so tense that it was starting to hurt and no matter what, she couldn’t get that feeling to go away.

“Breathe, Evie.” Mal commanded a second later, her hand rubbing hard against her back to stimulate her lungs. Evie followed her direction and inhaled, realizing that she had been holding her breath for the past minute. She greedily sucked in air. “Exhale.” Evie let the air out until her lungs were empty. “Inhale…that’s it, baby, take a big breath for me. Now let it out.”

This went on for a few minutes, Mal having to verbally remind Evie when it was time to complete the actions needed for breathing. Carlos had gently taken Ellie from her arms and once they were free, Evie wrapped them tightly around Mal.

After she finally calmed down, she felt Mal’s hands slide down to her butt. A second later, Mal stood, holding Evie in her arms. Evie’s eyes were closed and her face was buried in Mal’s neck, but she could feel the familiar route from the closet to their bed. 

“I don’t wanna lay down.” Evie objected. “Please.”

“We don’t have to.” Mal whispered soothingly, then stroked her fingers through Evie’s hair. She kept the blue haired girl in her arms and paced around the room. Evie just gripped onto her and tried to stay focused on her breathing. 

“Ellie?” she demanded after a minute. 

“Carlos is sitting on the couch and holding her.” 

Evie’s eyes filled with tears. “Mal, please…” 

“Please what, baby?” when she didn’t respond, Mal moved so that she could make eye contact. 

“I don’t know.” Evie confessed. A tear slid down her cheek and Mal leaned in to kiss it away. 

“You’re scared, and I totally understand that. I’m a little scared too.” Mal admitted. “I bet you’re exhausted too, aren’t you?” 

Evie nodded, her head feeling heavy from the movement. “I’m so tired but I can’t go to sleep. I’m gonna have a nightmare.” 

“Then we need to get you calmed down. We’ve done this before, E. I know you can calm down again so that you can sleep. Do you wanna take a bath?” 

Evie shrugged noncommittally. She wouldn’t say she exactly wanted to, but she wouldn’t object. Mal must have figured it was best to just do it because she carried her into the bathroom and started the warm water. 

They sat in the bath for a while, Mal holding Evie on her lap. The anxious girl just laid her head on her shoulder and kept working on regulating her breathing. Every time she started to feel a little calmer, she would remember why she was upset in the first place and freak out all over again. 

Evie was grateful for Mal and her love. The purple haired girl was being so, so patient with her and talked her through each one of her little episodes. She just clung to her and listened to the sweet words Mal whispered in her ear, feeling fingertips dancing up and down her spine. 

They had to have been in the bath for at least an hour when they heard a knock on the bathroom door. Evie jumped instantly and was back on high alert. She heard Mal cuss softly, obviously irritated that her girl’s calm moment had been disturbed. 

“What?” Mal called out. Evie felt her heart race as she waited for a response.

The door opened and Jay poked his head in. “Audrey is at the door.” 

“Why?” Mal questioned.

“She wanted to check on Evie.” 

“I don’t want her in here.” Evie stated before they had time to take the conversation any further. She sat up slightly so she could make eye contact. “Please, M. I don’t want to see anyone.” 

Mal nodded, then looked towards Jay. “You heard her.” 

“I’ll get rid of her.” Jay promised, shutting the door behind him as he left the room. 

Evie laid back down against Mal, feeling a shiver run through her body. “Should we get out?” 

Mal started to stroke her back again. “Why?”

“Because of Ellie.” 

“Carlos has her right now. You are my priority.” Mal sat up, pulling Evie up with her. She reached out and turned on the faucet, filling the tub with more warm water since it had gotten a little cold. “Let’s just sit here a little longer, okay?” 

Evie cuddled closer. Her body relaxed involuntarily when the warm water surrounded them. “Okay.” 

She didn’t remember much of the next half hour. Her head was against Mal’s shoulder and her index finger was absentmindedly drawing designs on Mal’s chest and collarbone. She could feel Mal’s hands on her back and the steady rise and fall of her chest, which helped Evie regulate her own breathing. Evie was doing her best not to think or feel anything; she just wanted to zone out so she could calm down. 

“Hey Mal?” their quiet bubble was interrupted by Carlos’s voice outside of the door. “We’re going to take Ellie to the kitchen and get started on dinner.” 

“No.” Evie shot up immediately. “I don’t want her to leave the room. It’s not safe.” 

When Mal looked at her, Evie could see tears in her eyes. The purple haired girl hugged her tightly. “Hold on a second, don’t take her. We’re getting out.” Mal responded. She must have pulled the plug in the bath tub. 

Evie didn’t bother to wait for her. She stood up, grabbing a towel and wrapping it around herself. She threw open the bathroom door and pulled Ellie out of Carlos’s arms. She carried her over and sat down on the floor next to her bed, trying to make herself as small as possible. 

She could hear Mal and the boys talking quietly, but she ignored it. She stared down at her nine month old daughter. How could she keep her safe with Quinton here? How long was it going to be until he found out about her? What would he do when he realized she existed? 

She felt a hand touch her arm and flinched. When Evie looked up, she saw that it was just Mal. Her girlfriend reached out, pulling her towel down slightly to reveal her breasts. 

“Your milk is leaking from the bath and you missed her afternoon feeding.” Mal reminded her. “Ellie, do you want milk?” 

The baby instantly leaned in and latched onto her mother’s breast. Evie didn’t particularly feel like she was in the mood to feed her, but it gave her something else to focus on. Mal sat down next to her, still in her towel too, and grabbed a throw blanket off the bed. She covered the three of them up and Evie leaned her head over to rest on Mal’s shoulder. 

“We’ll be back, okay?” Jay crouched in front of her. 

Evie’s eyes teared up. “I don’t want you to leave.” 

“E, he’s locked up. It’s safe right now.” 

“Yeah, right now.” The tears spilled over. “But what are we going to do when they let him out?”

“I’m going to kill him.” Mal stated, leaving no room for argument. “I don’t give a fuck what Ben says. He’s dead.” She reached over and wiped the tears off of Evie’s cheeks. “Just keep breathing, Princess. It’s okay.” 

Jay gave her a quick kiss on the cheek. “We’ll be back in twenty minutes.” 

“We’ll text if anything comes up.” Carlos added, leaned down for a moment to kiss the top of Evie’s head. 

After they left, Evie felt even more on edge. She held Ellie close to her and kept her head on Mal’s shoulder. She didn’t even noticed her teeth were chattering until Mal wrapped the blanket around her tighter. 

“Guess I should have dried off and gotten dressed first.” Evie admitted.

“C’mere.” Mal pulled her to sit between her legs. Her towel must have slipped down, because Evie could feel her bare back against Mal’s bare chest. The skin on skin contact always helped her calm down. Having Mal and Ellie so close to her made her feel the calmest she had been in the past 24 hours. Mal wrapped both of her arms around Evie’s waist and rested her chin on her shoulder, pressing gentle kisses against the side of her neck. “I love you, baby.” 

“I love you too.” Evie turned her head so she could give her a kiss on the lips. 

They sat in silence until the boys came back. By that point, Ellie had just finished breastfeeding and was looking curiously at Jay and Carlos. 

“Before we know it, this one is going to be eating real food.” Carlos commented. “She’s always so interested in what we’re eating.” 

“Can you take her for a second so we can get dressed?” Evie asked. 

Carlos wordlessly took Ellie from her mother’s arms. The two girls adjusted their towels and then walked into the closet, picking out clothes to change into. After they were dressed, Evie realized that the boys had brought back food and Mal was going to be expecting her to eat. Her stomach felt like it was rolling. 

“Hey M?” 

“Hmmm?” 

“I…I don’t know how much I’m going to be able to eat. I really don’t want to throw up, and I know if I eat a lot, I’m not going to be able to control it.” 

Mal pulled her into a hug. “Do you know how proud I am of you? When we first got here, you would have said you weren’t eating anything. Now, you’re realizing that it’s still good to at least try and eat something.” She planted little kisses across Evie’s face, making the girl smile. “You’re fucking perfect.” 

Evie reached out and cradled Mal’s cheeks in her hands. She pulled her forward until their foreheads were touching. “You make this all worth it. I’m so anxious and everything fucking sucks right now, but you’re the one thing helping me keep it together.” 

Mal kissed the tip of her nose, then her lips. “We’re going to get through this. Say it.” 

“We’re going to get through this.” Evie repeated. She gave Mal a hug, then turned to walk back into the room. 

The boys had already set things up on the table in the living area. Ellie was sitting on her blanket on the floor and looked content with pressing buttons and making one of her toys light up. 

“The meal plan said grilled chicken, rice, and green beans for today.” Jay began. “We made that, and then we went to the cafeteria and grabbed a couple things too.” 

Evie looked at the table and saw all of her usual foods were laid out. The boys had grabbed yogurt, pineapples, strawberries, asparagus, toast, salad, bowls of mashed potatoes and macaroni and cheese, and a few other things she would eat without complaint. She smiled at their thoughtfulness. 

She went over and sat on Jay’s lap, giving him a big hug. “I love you.” She kissed his cheek, then leaned over to kiss Carlos’s too. “And I love you.”

“We love you more, gorgeous.” Jay responded, kissing her temple. “Does anything look good to you?” 

Evie studied the foods. She really didn’t want to eat anything, but she was going to try. Her friends had put so much effort into trying to make her happy, so it was the least she could do. Plus, she hadn’t eaten dinner last night, or breakfast or lunch today, so she was starting to feel hungry. She picked up the salad, then looked at Mal. 

“Do you want the strawberries?”

“Nope, you take them.” 

Carlos looked at her with a raised eyebrow. “You almost killed me a week ago when I tried to take the last bowl of strawberries.”

“Yeah, well you know the only thing that tastes better than strawberries?” Evie could see Mal’s smirk growing. 

Jay rolled his eyes. “I’m sure you’re gonna tell us.” 

“Evie’s lips after she’s eaten strawberries.”

The boys shook their heads, but they were smiling. Evie blushed slightly and gave her girlfriend a look. Mal just laughed and handed the bowl of strawberries to Evie, then sat down on the floor to grab her own food.

Evie’s anxiety was actually pretty low during dinner. Her friends made sure to keep talking and joking around, and it made it difficult for her to think about Quinton. She ate about half of her salad, and the entire bowl of strawberries. 

“You did so good, Pretty Girl.” Mal commented while the boys were distracted with cleaning up. She leaned in and gave her a kiss, tilting Evie’s chin to deepen it. Evie parted her lips and immediately felt Mal’s tongue rubbing against hers. “See? Delicious.” 

“You’re disgusting.” Evie teased, pushing her shoulder.

Then, the quiet settled in. Suddenly, all the fear and worries hit Evie like a truck and she remembered why she had been so upset. 

She could feel Quinton’s hands on her body. She could remember his dark, lifeless eyes staring into hers as he insulted and berated her. She could remember screaming and wishing that her life would end so she never had to deal with this again. 

“Come back to me, baby.” Mal’s voice broke through her haze. “There you go. Take a deep breath. I’ve got you.” 

Evie whimpered. “It’s never going to stop.” 

“What do you need?” Mal asked instead. “Is there anything that would make things better?”

“I just want to sleep, but I’m too scared. I’m going to have a nightmare.” Her eyes welled up with tears. “Please help me, M.” 

Mal bit her lip, then sighed. “I’ve been reading up on sleeping spells.” 

Evie instantly grabbed her hands. “Please.” 

“E, I haven’t ever done one before. I don’t want to mess up. What if I do it wrong and I can’t wake you up?”

“True love’s kiss.” Carlos chimed in. “All you’ll have to do is kiss her and she’ll be fine.” 

Evie nodded. “I don’t care. I need a break, Mal. I can’t keep thinking like this. I’ve been awake for too long and I can’t calm down.” She sniffled, using her sleeve to wipe the tears off her cheeks. “I just want a break.” 

Mal stood, scooping Evie up into her arms. She carried her over to the bed and laid her down, covering her with the blanket. She tried to get up, but Evie grabbed her hand. 

“Can you stay with me?”

“I need to get my mother’s spell book.”

“Here.” Jay went over, grabbing it from Mal’s backpack and passing it to her. “E, Mal can sit with you. Carlos and I will keep an eye on Ellie.” 

Evie nodded in understanding, then cuddled into Mal’s side. There was nothing she wanted more than a peaceful, dreamless sleep. The purple haired girl gave her one of her pills for anxiety and a bottle of water, and then they settled into the warm, fluffy blankets. 

Mal muttered a spell, her voice strong and clear. After she finished speaking, she wrapped both arms around Evie’s waist. 

“You won’t dream. You should sleep for about twelve hours.” 

“Promise me something.” Evie whispered, her voice already sounding heavy. Her body was relaxing and her eyelids were drooping. 

“Anything.” 

“You all stay here. No one leaves the room.” 

“Promise.” Mal gave her a gentle kiss. “Now sleep, pretty baby.” 

That was the last thing Evie heard before she closed her eyes and lost awareness of the world. 

\-----

When Evie opened her eyes, she felt disoriented. Light was filtering in through the window, but she had no idea what time it was. She couldn’t even remember falling asleep or how she had gotten into bed. She moved her arm out, feeling around for Mal, but the bed was empty. 

Evie sat up, rubbing her eyes tiredly. She looked around the room to find her family. Mal was laying on her stomach on the floor and playing with Ellie, Carlos was sitting on the other bed with his computer on his lap, and she didn’t see Jay, but she could hear the shower running. 

“M?” she called out. 

Mal instantly sat up. “Thank God.” She lifted Ellie up and came over, sitting next to Evie and pulling her into her arms. “You were sleeping for so long.” 

Evie frowned. “What time is it?”

“A little after noon.” 

Then, everything came rushing back to her. Mal had done a spell on her to help her calm down enough to sleep without having a nightmare. She had been so worried about having a nightmare because Quinton was in Auradon. 

Evie’s breathing quickened instantly. Mal carefully cradled her face in her hands. “Hey, calm down, E. It’s okay.” 

“He’s here.” Evie whimpered. 

“But he’s locked up in the health center, remember? We’re safe.” Mal pulled her into her arms. 

Evie just collapsed in Mal’s arms. She hated that she was instantly on edge again. All she wanted was for things to go back to how they had been. They were making progress and had actually been happy, and now that was all ruined. 

She felt a pull against her hair and opened her eyes, coming face to face with her daughter. Ellie gave her a gummy smile and Evie was reminded why she had to deal with all of this. She had to keep her daughter safe. She needed to pull it together and stop being weak because she had to set a good example.

Evie sat up and took a deep breath, doing her best to calm her racing heart. She did feel significantly less exhausted, so that was helpful. She could keep it together, for her baby. 

“If it’s noon, why aren’t you guys at school?” Evie asked. 

Mal gave her a look. “I promised you we wouldn’t leave the room, remember?” 

Now that she said it, Evie did remember. She smiled at her girlfriend and gave her a quick kiss, then reached for the edges of her shirt. She lifted it over her head, earning a strange look from Mal. 

“I’m so full. I can’t keep missing her feeds like this or my body isn’t going to make enough milk for her.” She stated, reaching out for Ellie. The child instantly knew what she was supposed to do and Evie was able to lean back against the pillows and feed her. 

The rest of the afternoon flew by. Mal was able to talk Evie into eating, and she ate a whole cup of yogurt and a couple of pineapple chunks. Though Evie was trying her best to stay calm, she couldn’t deny that she was still extra cuddly and tried to stay as close to Mal and Ellie as possible. 

After Ellie went down for her nap, the teenagers did some homework. Then, they turned on a movie and all squeezed onto the couch together. Ellie woke up half way through and Carlos went to get her, handing her over to Evie just in time for her usual afternoon feed. 

“What are we doing about therapy and Tourney?” Jay questioned as it came close to their usual time to go to their activities. 

“I’m not going to therapy.” Evie argued instantly. “I’m not leaving this room.” 

Mal sighed. “E…”

“No, Mal. I’m not leaving Ellie.” 

“Okay.” Mal obviously didn’t want to fight. “Carlos, you should probably still go to your appointment.” 

“I’ll walk you there and wait outside until you’re done.” Jay volunteered. 

“And then after the appointment, you can both go to Tourney.” Mal added. 

“What about you?” Carlos wondered. 

“If my girls are staying here, then so am I. Just tell Coach that I’m sick or something.” 

When it was time, the boys started to get ready to leave. Evie could feel her anxiety rising at the fact that two of the members of her family would be leaving the room. Dr. Bren’s office was in the health center, so they would be in the same building as Quinton. 

“I don’t want you to go.” Evie finally blurted out. She must have been pinching herself because all of a sudden, she felt Mal grab her arm and bring her wrist up to her lips. 

“We’re going to be okay.” Jay reassured her. “We’ll text you guys when we get there and when we’re leaving.” 

“It’s too close.” Evie bit her lip nervously. “Please don’t go.” 

“Baby, Carlos can’t miss his appointment.” Mal reminded her. “We’re probably already going to be in trouble for missing classes today. You know that every time we miss therapy, Fairy Godmother gets upset. You’re already missing your appointment, so we can’t make things even worse by having Carlos miss his too.” 

Evie’s bottom lip quivered as she tried her best not to cry. “It’s not safe.”

“Come here.” Mal pulled her onto her lap and gave her a tight hug. “Go.” 

Evie realized she had been speaking to the boys, and the tears instantly spilled over when she heard them walking towards the door. Mal just held her tighter, whispering to her that things were going to be okay. 

As soon as Evie finally stopped crying, there was a knock on the door. She jumped so hard that it scared Ellie, who dropped one of her toys. 

“Go to the bathroom.” Mal said quietly, handing her the baby. Evie didn’t have to be told twice; she walked into the bathroom and locked the door behind her. 

She tried to listen, but couldn’t hear who was outside their room. A moment later, she heard footsteps right outside the bathroom door. 

“Come out, E.” Mal called out.

Evie knew that Mal would never send her into a dangerous situation, especially with Ellie in the room. She opened the bathroom door and saw that Fairy Godmother was standing in front of her. 

The headmistress gave her a small smile. “You know you can’t miss therapy, sweetheart.” 

Evie frowned. “Ellie’s life is more important than therapy.” 

FG raised an eyebrow. “I’m not sure what you mean. I can tell that you’re upset, and I want to help you talk through it. We can do your session in here today if you would like.” 

“Do I have to?” 

“It’s either in here or in my office.”

“She’ll do it in here.” Mal interrupted. She reached out and grabbed Evie’s arm, pulling her over towards the living area.

The two girls sat on the couch with Ellie in Mal’s arms, perfectly content to chew on her dragon stuffed animal. Fairy Godmother took the chair and turned towards the teenagers. 

“Evie, I can tell just from looking at you that you are struggling. Did you miss classes today because of this?” 

“Kind of.” Evie admitted. She really didn’t want to talk about this, but she had already told Ben about Quinton, so it was only a matter of time before FG found out. She would rather the woman hear it from her than from Ben, or even one of the other VKs.

“Have you been taking your anxiety medicine?”

“Yes.” 

“Do you feel like it’s helping?” 

Evie sighed. “I would have to take the whole bottle to block this out.” 

“Stop.” Mal scolded before Fairy Godmother could comment. “I don’t like when you talk like that.”

The blue haired girl looked at her apologetically. “I’m sorry, M.” Mal just grabbed her hand and kissed the top of it, silently letting her know that she accepted the apology. 

“I noticed that yesterday when the new group of VKs arrived, you got upset.” Fairy Godmother stated. “Do you want to walk me through how you were feeling?” 

That was one of the last things Evie wanted to do, but she had learned that it was better to just get things over with instead of dragging it out and making herself more anxious. 

“I’m sure you know this by now, but they didn’t bring over Gaston’s son Gil.” Evie looked down at Ellie, who was sitting on her lap and completely unaware of what was happening. She didn’t want to mess up again and confess all of this in front of her daughter. She turned to her girlfriend. “Mal?” 

“What do you need, Princess?” 

“Can you take Ellie into the bathroom or something?” she bit her lip. “I don’t want her to hear.” 

“Whatever you want.” Mal took their daughter and gave her a kiss on the cheek. “Come on, Ellie Belly. Wanna take a bath?” Evie smiled when she heard her daughter squeal in excitement. Mal shut the door behind her. 

“Ben told me his name is Quinton.” Fairy Godmother stated. 

“Did Ben tell you anything else?” 

“He just mentioned that we need to figure out a way to keep him locked up. I was hoping that you would have some more insight on that situation.” 

“He’s a horrible, disgusting person.” Evie couldn’t help but let her distaste show in her words. “I know that Ben is scared that the VK Exchange Program will be shut down if he sends Quinton back to the Isle. But if they let him loose in Auradon, it’s going to be shut down anyway. He is one of the most evil people I have ever known, and that’s saying a lot with who I was raised around.” 

“Would you want him to be sent back to the Isle?” FG asked. 

Evie shook her head. “Do you remember how we were talking about there being three major crews on the Isle? Mal’s crew, Uma’s crew, and then a third one?” FG nodded in understanding. “That was his crew. When we went back to get Ellie, Mal had to kill Tristan, who was part of Q’s crew. She couldn’t let Quinton find out that I was back.” 

“Why not?” 

“Because technically, we are betrothed.” Evie said, earning a confused look from FG. “Obviously my mother is the Evil Queen, and his is the Queen of Hearts. They were both so determined to be surrounded by royalty and riches that they agreed that the two of us were the closest they would get to having their children marry well. My mother was able to receive material items and money from the union, and Quinton’s mother received protection from my mother and Maleficent. They may have used the word ‘betrothed’, but that’s not how it actually worked. She had sold me many times for a couple hours or a day, but she sold me to Quinton for good.”

Fairy Godmother looked at her in sadness. “He’s one of the men who hurt you?”

Evie couldn’t make eye contact. “He’s the worst of them all. He tortured me for days at a time over the course of three months.” She dug her fingernails into her palms as she clenched her fists. “He abused me in every way you could possibly think of, Fairy Godmother.” She raised her head to look at the woman. “I can’t ever let him hurt another person the way he hurt me.” 

“We won’t, Evie. We’re going to find a solution for this problem. Can I give you a hug?” 

Evie nodded and the woman wrapped her in her arms. A few tears spilled out of her eyes during the warm embrace. FG just squeezed together, whispering reassurances to her. 

They separated after a moment and Fairy Godmother reached a hand out, swiping her fingers underneath Evie’s eyes to wipe away her tears. 

“You know, those other children adore you.” FG told her. “I went and spoke to them this morning, and all they cared about was you.” 

“How are they?” Evie asked. 

“Pretty much the same as the four of you when you came. They’re nervous and defensive, but doing well with following directions and doing what needs to be done. Uma reminds me a lot of Mal.” 

Evie couldn’t help but smile. “Don’t ever let them hear you say that.” 

“But it’s true. They’re both fiercely protective and loyal. I know people with similar personalities can sometimes clash though, and I’m sure with the environment you all were raised in, it was even harder to be friends. But I hope things can change now that you’re all in Auradon.” 

“Me too.” Evie agreed. “What about Dizzy?” 

FG smiled. “That girl can definitely talk. She said she is so excited to be in Auradon, and that the two of you have always dreamed of coming here and looking at all the outfits and eating ice cream.” 

Evie’s smile grew. “She’s like my little sister. She was one of the biggest reasons that Carlos and I started to look out for the younger kids. She’s so innocent and pure, and I never wanted that to be taken away from her.” 

“You all did the best you could.” FG squeezed her hand. “I couldn’t get much out of Celia, but she kept going on about the future.” 

“Don’t let her have her cards.” Evie stated. “Trust me, you don’t want to deal with the backlash of Celia and her cards.” She could just imagine all the trouble the younger girl would get into. “Did you see Harry?” 

“He wouldn’t talk much. He asked about you and Ellie, and that was it.” 

Evie bit her lip. “What about Quinton?” 

“Ben told me not to go into his room, so I didn’t even see him.” Fairy Godmother squeezed her hand even tighter. “You know, he’s in an entirely different hallway of the health center. I think you should come down and see them.” 

“No.” Evie refused instantly. She could feel her pulse quickening at the idea of being so close to the boy who had brought her nothing but pain. 

“I can tell you are worried about them, and I know that it would make everyone feel better if they got to see you.” 

“I don’t want to leave Ellie. He can never find out about her.” 

“Mal can stay with her and…”

“No.” This time, Mal was the one who spoke. The purple haired girl came out of the bathroom with Ellie wrapped up in a towel in her arms. “If Evie goes, I’m going too.” 

“I’m not going anywhere.” Evie argued. 

“I just think it would help you remember why you have been fighting so hard for the VK Exchange Program to expand. You have made so much progress in Auradon and done everything you can to prove that more children should be brought over. You deserve to feel the reward from that, Evie. Besides that, I’m very curious to find out what actually happened to Gil. The other children wouldn’t tell me, and I think you might have a better chance.” 

Evie hated that Fairy Godmother brought that up. She obviously wasn’t close to Gil, but she knew that he was Harry’s and Uma’s best friend and that they must be worried sick about him. The two pirates had done so much for her, and she was sure that Gil had also had a huge hand in taking care of Ellie and keeping her safe. 

“I can go to the health center with you.” Mal said, interrupting the silence. “We can leave Ellie here with the boys. I’ll tell them to skip Tourney.” 

“I can even send Coach a message and excuse the three of you from practice.” FG chimed in. 

Evie sighed, realizing she wasn’t going to win this battle. She needed to find out if something happened to Gil and if he may possibly need help, plus she really wanted to lay eyes on Dizzy and Harry and actually talk to them. 

“I’m not staying long.” Evie finally gave in. 

“I’ll text the boys.” Mal passed Ellie to her and then went to grab her phone. 

Evie carried their daughter over to the changing table. She put her in a fresh diaper and got her dressed in a warm onesie, then handed her some of her little snacks. She busied herself with caring for her daughter until Carlos and Jay came in the door. 

She felt a lot better now that the boys were actually in her sight. If she had been nervous about them leaving, she couldn’t imagine how she would feel once she was separated from Ellie. 

“Hey Princess.” Jay came over, wrapping her up in a hug. “How are you?”

“I really don’t want to go, Jay.” She admitted. 

“I know, but it’ll be good to check in with everyone. You know they all like you better than any of us. You’re the best person to do this.” He kissed her cheek. “All you have to do is go in there, talk for a few minutes, and then come back here. Mal will be with you the whole time.” 

Evie nodded in understanding. She could handle that. “You better keep Ellie safe.” 

“I would do anything for that little girl. You know that.”

“I know.” Evie gave Ellie a quick kiss, then passed her to Jay. “I’ve gotta get ready.” 

It took fifteen minutes for Evie to put on makeup, fix her hair, and change her clothes. Then, she was walking out the door with Mal and Fairy Godmother before she could change her mind. 

Typically, the VKs would walk to the health center when they needed to go. It wasn’t far, and they enjoyed the fresh air. But it was freezing outside, so FG had called a limo for the three of them. Evie wouldn’t deny that she was glad to be warm, but she hated that they got to the health center so much quicker. 

“Hello, girls.” Dr. Bren greeted once they walked inside. “Fairy Godmother told me that you are ready to see Harry, Uma, Dizzy, and Celia.” 

“Yes.” Mal responded for both of them. “We don’t have much time though, Evie needs to be back in time for dinner. She’s been doing really well with sticking to her meal plan.” 

“That is great to hear. We can make this quick.” 

Dr. Bren led them down the hallway to a room. Evie instantly recognized it as the room that Dr. Williams and Ben had brought her and her friends to when they first came to Auradon after they had been separated for three days.

“Go ahead and take a seat.” The therapist directed. 

Mal sat first on one of the couches, and Evie sat right next to her. From where they were, their backs were protected by a wall and they had a perfect view of the door. Fairy Godmother took a chair next to them as they waited. 

Uma was the first one in the room, her eyes scanning as she searched for danger. Evie nearly smiled as she remembered FG’s words; Uma and Mal really weren’t that different. Once her eyes landed on her two rivals, she smirked and walked further into the room. 

“Look who came to visit.” 

“Hi Uma.” Evie greeted. 

“EVIE!” Before Uma could say another word, Dizzy had sprinted into the room. Evie didn’t even have a chance to stand before the twelve year old pounced on her, practically jumping on her lap and smothering her in a hug. 

“Hi Dizzy!” Evie hugged her back tightly. 

“I’m so happy to see you! Can you believe that we’re in Auradon? Have you tried ice cream yet? What’s the best flavor? Are you still making designs? Are you…”

“Whoa, slow down a second, kid.” Mal interrupted. “Give her a second to answer.” 

“I’m glad you’re here.” Evie smoothed back a few loose strands of Dizzy’s hair. “Once we’re able to, I’m going to take you to try ice cream.” 

“Promise?” Dizzy held out her pinky. 

“Promise.” Evie confirmed, locking her pinky with the child’s. She looked past her, seeing Dr. Facilier’s daughter watching. Celia had never really needed their protection with her father being one of the more powerful villains, but she and her older sister were still part of Mal’s crew. “Hey Celia, you’re more than welcome to join Dizzy and I when we go.” 

Celia nodded. “That sounds fun.” 

Evie looked past her and saw that Harry and Uma were stopped a couple feet away. She made eye contact with her brother, whose eyes instantly darted towards Mal. Evie knew he was asking her girlfriend for permission to get closer, and she saw Mal nod out of the corner of her eye. Harry stepped closer and Evie stood. 

“Can I give you a hug?” he asked. 

Evie went to him instead, wrapping her arms around him. Harry instantly pulled her closer and they hugged for a long moment. 

“Ellie?” he whispered. 

“With Jay and Carlos. She’s good.” 

“You?” 

“I’m sure you can imagine.” Evie squeezed a little tighter. “I’m so happy you’re okay. I’m sorry for the way we left things.” 

“That’s all in the past. We’re good.” 

Evie pulled away from Harry and walked past him, getting closer to Uma. As soon as she started walking towards the pirate, she could hear Mal stand and walk over so she was closer to her. 

“When we left the Isle, I fucked you guys over.” Evie stated, making eye contact with Uma. “I didn’t honor our deal, and I left you with a huge mess to clean up.” 

“You followed through in the end.” Uma said. 

“I’m sure things haven’t been easy since I came back and blew everything up.” 

Uma came over to her, and Evie heard Mal practically growl in warning. Uma stopped so that there was still a few feet between them. “We’re good, Blue. You honored the deal. The mess wasn’t anything that wouldn’t have had to be cleaned up anyway.” she held a hand out. “Thanks for bringing us.” 

Evie nodded and reached out, grasping Uma’s hand in her own. She didn’t know if they would ever be the type to hug, and she was sure that Mal would cut Uma’s arms off if she ever attempted it. But this was a start.

“Do you know how things got mixed up with Gil?” Evie questioned. She and Uma had each taken a few steps back, putting a little distance between them. Mal was right next to her now, and Harry had gone over to stand next to Uma. Celia and Dizzy were sitting on one of the couches, and FG hadn’t moved from her spot. 

“Harry, Gil, and I went to go get Dizzy and Celia.” Uma began. “We didn’t want them walking down to the docks without any protection.” Evie held in her smile; Uma could pretend to be evil all she wanted, but protecting children from another crew proved that she was the exact opposite. “We walked down close to the docks a few minutes before we were supposed to be there. All of a sudden, Anthony Tremaine came running up and told Gil that Gaston had beaten Gray and he ran off to go help. We tried to get him to stay because it was almost time to go, but you know that Gil wouldn’t ever turn his back on one of his brothers. Gil said he would catch up. The bridge opened and the limo came in, and General Shang’s men guided us down to the dock. They let the four of us put our bags in the car and we got in and told them that Gil would be there in a minute. Before we knew it, Quinton was climbing in the car, telling the guards that he was Gil.” 

“Why didn’t you beat his ass right then and there?” Mal interrupted, her tone hostile. Evie reached over to grab her hand. The last thing they needed was an argument in front of FG, Dizzy, and Celia. 

“He reminded us that if we made one wrong move, they would dump us all back on the Isle and we would never have a chance to get off. It didn’t matter anyway because as soon as the door closed behind Quinton, the limo started moving.” Uma lowered her voice. “I didn’t want to risk anything bad happening, especially with Dizzy and Celia in the car.” 

Evie nodded. She understood Uma’s logic and her reaction had made sense. She just wished that there had never been an opportunity for Quinton to get near the limo. It sounded like Gil was okay though, so she was happy about that at least. 

For the next couple minutes, they talked to Dizzy and Celia, letting them explain all that had happened so far since they had been in Auradon. They had a lot of questions, which Evie, Mal, and Fairy Godmother took turns answering. Mal was in the middle of explaining what Tourney was when Evie realized she had to go to the bathroom. 

“I’m going to the bathroom, I’ll be right back.” Evie said, then stood. She didn’t really want to leave the others, but she had been holding it for a while. She would be quick and come right back. 

“There’s one right outside this room.” FG told her. She nodded in understanding. 

When Evie went to the bathroom, she saw that there was a sign on the door saying it was closed for maintenance. She figured that there had to be another bathroom close by, and looked over, seeing a sign pointing towards a bathroom. 

Evie followed the signs posted on the wall. She turned around a corner, her eyes set on the bathroom door at the end of the hall. Right as she was about to go in, she heard laughing. 

As soon as she heard the noise, a chill ran down her spine. She would never, ever forget the sound of his sadistic, evil laugh. She debated on just continuing to walk, but she had to be sure. She turned around, seeing that Quinton was looking out the window of one of the rooms. 

“Well, well, if it isn’t my sweet Genevieve.” He stated. Evie cringed involuntarily, and Quinton laughed again. “How are you liking Auradon so far?” 

Evie didn’t speak. She didn’t know what to do. Did she run back to the others? She didn’t want to show him a weakness. She knew she needed to try and be strong. 

“You know what I think? I think you love Auradon. After the little stunt you pulled yesterday, it’s pretty obvious that you’ve gotten right back to your sins. It probably feels nice getting to whore yourself out to Maleficent’s bastard, huh?” he stepped even closer to the window. Evie felt her heart race and her hands started to sweat. She didn’t know if she was going to puke or cry or both. “Don’t forget that you’re mine, Genevieve. You belong to _me_. I can do what I want with you, whenever I want, and I will stop at nothing to remind you of that. _I own you_.” 

Evie turned and walked to the bathroom, hearing Quinton’s laughter behind her. She busted into the room and immediately went to the furthest stall, locking the door and then sinking down on the ground. She brought her knees up to her chest and wrapped her arms around them. 

Her breathing came in short pants to the point where she couldn’t catch her breath. She didn’t know how long she sat on that floor, gasping for air. Her chest felt like it was on fire and she could see spots in her vision as her mind darted between the past and the present. She rocked back and forth as she was assaulted with memories. 

_“Oh my sweet Evie. You think you are so brave for doing this, don’t you? Do you think this will be the end? Even if you end my life, it will never stop. You’ll see me every single time you look in the mirror. Every time you think about your weight. Every time you shove your fingers down your throat. Every time you let another person touch you the way I let those men touch you._ I own you.”

She heard the bathroom door open and instantly slapped a hand over her mouth. She tried to stay quiet because she knew that had to be Quinton. He had gotten out of his room and now he was coming for her. She heard footsteps and moved her hands up to cover her ears as she held her breath, wishing this was all just a dream.

The stall door slammed opened and Evie immediately screamed at the top of her lungs. Her eyes were shut tightly and she was still covering her ears. He was coming closer and there was nothing she could do. She hoped that Jay and Carlos would protect Ellie because there was no chance she was getting out of this. 

Then, she noticed something. 

_Strawberries._

Evie took a moment to analyze what was happening. She still couldn’t breathe, her eyes were closed, and she was screaming. But she could feel a soft hand cradling her cheek and one on her back, and she smelled strawberries. There was only one explanation. 

She took a chance and opened her eyes, coming face to face with her girlfriend. Mal was kneeling in front of her and her lips were moving. 

It took a moment, but Evie finally stopped screaming so she could hear what Mal was saying. As soon as she did, she started to panic because she still couldn’t breathe. 

“Inhale.” Mal encouraged, rubbing her back. “Evie, baby, you need to breathe.” Evie let out a tiny whimper. Mal pressed their foreheads together and pulled her closer. “Come on, my love.” She started to rub her chest instead. She wondered if she could feel how hard her heart was beating. 

Finally, Evie was able to suck in a little air. She just shut her eyes and listened to Mal’s directions, the purple haired girl telling her when to inhale and exhale. 

“I can’t go back out there.” Evie sobbed once she was capable of speaking. “I can’t let him see me. If he sees how upset he made me, he’ll never stop.” 

“Try not to get yourself worked up again.” Mal hugged her tightly, making sure their chests were pressing against each other. 

“We have to kill him, M. I don’t care what Ben or anyone else says, we have to kill him. I can’t _breathe_ knowing that he’s here and I can’t let him get near Ellie. Please, Mal, you have to help me.” 

“Shhh, relax, baby.” Mal kissed her forehead. “We’re gonna take care of this.” 

If there was anyone in this world that Evie trusted, it was Mal. If she told her she would take care of things, then Evie chose to believe her. She rested against her, trying to keep her breathing regulated. 

It took a while, but she finally calmed down. When it was time to go, Mal helped her stand and they walked out of the bathroom together. Evie was surprised to see Fairy Godmother waiting for them. 

“We can’t…” Mal started. 

“He’s not in the room, they took him to do an evaluation.” FG quickly reassured. “Let’s go, the limo is waiting. Evie, the others told me to tell you that they’ll see you soon and they’re happy you’re doing okay.” 

Evie wanted to laugh. She was far from okay. Instead, she just let Mal wrap an arm around her waist and guide her out of the health center. 

\-----

For Mal, the next few days were a blur. The rest of Monday had been full of panic attacks and restlessness from Evie, until Mal finally gave in and did another sleeping spell. She didn’t want this to become a regular thing, but she just needed her girl to have a little break. 

On Tuesday, the four of them skipped school again. Ben came by to check on how they were doing, but Evie refused to let him in the room. Mal ended up talking to him on the phone. Ben attempted to tell her again that she couldn’t kill Quinton, but when she asked what his solution was, he didn’t have an answer. Mal had wanted to kill him before, but after seeing Evie bawling her eyes out and struggling to breathe on a bathroom floor after only a minute long encounter with the boy, she realized how important this was. Evie would never be okay in a world where Quinton was still breathing. Dr. Bren had met Mal in Fairy Godmother’s office for her therapy appointment, and Mal was pretty sure it was because they didn’t trust her to be around Quinton. She had to give them a little credit; if she had gone to the health center, she definitely would have found a way to get into Quinton’s room and slit his throat. 

On Wednesday, everyone was still feeling uncomfortable. Ellie was whiny and cranky, so Evie spent majority of the day laying in bed and breastfeeding her. Mal was actually happy with that; because there wasn’t much else to do, Evie napped on and off all day and she knew that the blue haired girl needed some rest. Fairy Godmother had come to the room again to do Evie’s therapy appointment, but Evie just sat in Mal’s lap and gave short answers. Mal couldn’t blame her- she was exhausted, scared, and nothing was being done by the Auradonians to make her feel better. The second group of VKs had been in Auradon now for four days and when Mal asked when they would be released, FG said they were keeping them there as long as possible. It sucked that Uma and the others were being locked up, but Mal knew they couldn’t just let a few of them out or it would look suspicious. 

On Thursday, Mal took care of Ellie while Evie threw herself into sewing. She had a lot of orders to catch up on, and Mal thought it was the perfect distraction. Evie had worked herself into exhaustion, and she and Mal ended up taking a nap during Ellie’s usual nap time. Jay had to do his therapy appointment in FG’s office too. Later on, they found out that Ben had left Auradon that morning to travel to Arendelle. According to the text message Mal got from Audrey, he had some business to take care of before his coronation, and he would be back on Sunday. 

Now, it was Friday. Mal didn’t want to admit it out loud, but she was actually missing school a little bit. She just wanted to go back to when things were normal and they could be happy in Auradon. She hated that Quinton had ruined everything. 

She couldn’t wait to get her hands around his neck and choke the life out of him. 

The boys had gone to grab lunch for the four of them. Mal was sitting on the couch and watching TV, Evie on her lap and Ellie on the floor in front of them, when they heard a knock on the door. They instantly went on high alert; the only person who had come to their door in the past few days was Fairy Godmother (everyone else knew to call or text first after being threatened by Mal).

“Stay here.” Mal commanded. She slid out from under Evie and went over, putting one hand behind her back on her dagger as she opened the door. 

“Hi Mal!” 

The last person she was expecting to see was Dizzy. 

“Dizzy?” she said. “What are you doing here?” 

“We finally got out! Celia and I are roommates, we’re in the building next door. I asked Queen Belle where your room was so I could come see you guys.” She gasped. “Oh my goodness, Ellie has gotten so big!” 

“Mal.” She heard Evie whimper, the fear obvious in her voice. 

If Dizzy was out, then that means the others were too. Where the fuck was Quinton? And who all had Belle told their room number? 

“Get inside.” She snapped, pulling Dizzy into the room. She shut and locked the door. Mal moved quickly to Evie’s side. She was still sitting, so Mal pulled her forward and Evie buried her face in her stomach. “Who let you out?” 

“King Adam. He had us all come into a room and said that normally, Prince Ben is the one who handled the Isle kids, but he is out of town. We had all passed our evaluations and he wanted us to be able to experience Auradon.” 

Mal was trying so hard not to project her anger on Dizzy, but her blood was boiling. She guaranteed that Adam and Belle had no idea that Quinton was dangerous, and she was sure that Ben hadn’t told them because he planned on handling things quietly on his own. She would bet anything that Adam was feeling guilty for locking them all up on the Isle in the first place, and he thought he was somehow making it up to them by releasing them from the health center. 

“What about Quinton?” Evie questioned, one of her hands coming up and grabbing a fistful of the material of Mal’s shirt. She didn’t say a word- she was just happy that Evie wasn't pinching herself or digging her nails into her skin. 

“I’m not sure, I didn’t see him.” 

Then, the door opened again. Evie screamed, which made Ellie cry, and Mal pulled out her dagger, ready to attack whoever it was. It took a total of four seconds for her to realize it was just Jay and Carlos. 

“Get the baby.” she whispered to Evie, then she walked around the couch to face the boys. 

“We…just…saw…Quinton…” Carlos huffed out. They had obviously run back based on their breathing and flushed faces. 

“Where?” Mal demanded. 

“Cafeteria.” Jay responded. His eyes landed on Dizzy. “What the fuck is going on?” 

“Dizzy, look at me.” Mal turned towards the preteen, putting her hands on her shoulders. She wasn’t nearly as close to the younger girl as Evie, but she knew to listen to Mal. “Who all knows our room number?” 

“Just me. I made sure no one else was around when I asked.” 

“You can’t come here again. You know that we can’t let Quinton get near Evie or Ellie. Do you know Uma’s room number?” Dizzy nodded. “From now on, go to her. We’ll come find you when we’re able to, okay?” 

“Okay.” Dizzy agreed. She looked towards Evie and Mal could tell she wanted to talk to her. She glanced at her girlfriend and saw tears pouring down her cheeks as she gripped tightly to their daughter. Carlos was trying to calm her down, but it didn’t look like it was working. 

“We’ll see you soon.” Mal said, hoping she caught the hint. Dizzy was innocent, but she wasn’t stupid. She turned and left the room. Mal shut the door behind her, then locked it. “You’re doing so good, E. You’re calming down and you’re keeping Ellie calm.” She praised as she pulled her phone out.

“Who are you calling?” Carlos wondered. 

“Ben.” Mal dialed the prince’s number, but it went straight to voicemail. “Fuck.” 

“Mal, what are we gonna do?” the panic was obvious in Evie’s voice. 

She came over and sat on the edge of the table, pulling Evie to where she could straddle her lap. “I’m going to kill him.” 

Surprisingly, Evie shook her head. “You can’t.” Mal’s face must have given away her surprise. “If you kill Quinton, they’re going to send you back to the Isle.” 

“Don’t think about that. We need to get rid of him.” 

“But not at the expense of losing you.” Evie gripped her shoulders tightly. “Please, M. I can’t lose you.” 

“He can’t be here, Evie. You and Ellie will never be safe with him in Auradon.” 

“Give Ben a chance.” Carlos pleaded, inserting himself into the conversation. “Maybe he has a solution.” 

“There is no solution other than killing him.” Jay chimed in.

Evie’s bottom lip quivered. “No.” 

“Stop.” Mal leaned in, giving her a quick kiss. “We need more information before we do anything. Right now, we stay here. We have enough dry food stocked up that we’ll be okay for a couple days. Ben will be back on Sunday and we’ll talk to him then. If he has a plan, we’ll listen. If he doesn’t, then I’m killing Quinton that night.” She hugged Evie before she could protest or get herself worked up. 

Mal knew it was going to be a long two days, but she never would have anticipated just how miserable it was. Evie was up all night on Friday, refusing to put Ellie down or let Mal do a sleeping spell. Mal thought about just doing it when Evie wasn’t paying attention, but there was no way she could do something like that without her girlfriend’s consent. Instead, she just sat with her and held her. 

All day Saturday, Evie sat on their bed with her eyes glued to the door. Ellie was irritated that her mother wouldn’t let her out of her arms, and finally Mal talked her into letting their daughter play on the blanket. Evie sat next to her, but her eyes rarely left the door. That night, she didn’t sleep again. 

Mal didn’t know what was going to happen, but she knew nothing good ever came from Evie losing sleep. She did her best to keep her calm, but it was obvious that she was fighting a losing battle. 

\-----

When Ben finally got back to Auradon, the first thing he did was plug his phone in to charge. He had forgotten to bring a charger with him on his trip to Arendelle, and the last thing he wanted was to look like an immature teenager who was so obsessed with his phone that he asked his allies for a charger. Besides that, it had allowed him to focus on the trip and work through his deal with Queen Elsa. 

The ice queen had been one of the first to voice her approval for the VK Exchange Program. After speaking with Evie, Mal, Jay, and Carlos, Ben had realized that there were many more children on the Isle than he could have anticipated. He knew that Auradon Prep would have limited room, so he needed to expand their options. His meeting with Queen Elsa was the first of many to find alternate housing options for the VKs he planned to bring to the United States of Auradon in the future. 

As soon as his phone turned on, he saw that he had nearly a hundred missed calls from Mal, with some sprinkled in from Evie, Jay, and Carlos too. There were messages from Fairy Godmother, his parents, and Audrey. Ben was overwhelmed and didn’t even know where to start. 

He figured that whatever the VKs had to say was probably pretty important if they had tried that hard to get a hold of him. It wasn’t common for them to text or call, so he wanted to take this seriously. Ben changed his clothes and then walked over to their dorm. 

He knocked on the door, hearing movement inside. The door flung open and before he even had a chance to speak, he felt a hand wrap around his throat and his body was slammed against a wall. 

Ben gasped for air, his hands coming up to grab the arm of his attacker. It took him a moment to realize that Evie was the one choking him. His eyes zeroed in on her dilated pupils and the bags under her eyes. 

“E, let go!” he registered the voice as Carlos’s. The curly haired boy pried each of Evie’s fingers off of his neck until he could finally breathe again, then pulled her into his arms so she couldn’t move. “Sorry, someone is a little sleep deprived.” He turned and pushed Evie back into the room, then stood aside. Ben took that as an invitation to enter, and after he did, Carlos shut and locked the door behind them. 

“What the hell is going on?” Mal demanded as the bathroom door opened. She was wrapped in a towel and her hair was wet. “Oh. You’re back.” 

Ben turned around, trying to give her some privacy. “Yeah, and Evie almost killed him.” Carlos tattled. 

“Well, I don’t completely blame her.” Mal stated, putting Ben on high alert. What were they talking about? What had he done to upset them? 

“Go get dressed so we can talk.” That was Jay. Ben turned towards the boy, seeing him standing in the living area with Ellie in his arms. The prince started to walk towards him with the intention of talking to the nine month old. 

“Don’t go near her.” Evie snapped. She walked over to stand next to Jay, taking her daughter from him. 

Jay put his hands on Evie’s shoulders and rubbed them. “Relax, E.” 

“Shut the fuck up, Jay.” 

“Stop.” Mal ordered as she came over to them. She sat down on the couch, yanking Evie by the arm until she sat on her lap. Jay sat next to her, and Carlos took the seat on his other side. Ben went over and sat in one of the chairs. 

“I’m not sure what’s going on, but…”

“What’s going on is that you abandoned us.” Mal interrupted, her tone icy. “Evie talked to you about one of the darkest parts of her past, and then you ran away to another kingdom. You better have a fucking solution for the issue we’re dealing with, or I swear that I’m ending this tonight. Fuck the consequences.” 

Ben flinched at her harsh tone. He could see their judgmental gazes were all focused on him, Evie’s the most piercing. The guilt settled into his stomach as he realized it really did seem like he abandoned them.

“I’m sorry.” He said, his tone soft and genuine. “I went to Arendelle to do some extra work with the VK Exchange Program. If we take all of the kids off of the Isle, there won’t be enough room at Auradon Prep. I wanted to explore some other options.” 

“That’s great and all, but that doesn’t solve our current problem.” Mal stated. “What are you going to do about Quinton?” 

“We can send him to Arendelle.” 

Mal laughed. “What, and he gets to just walk around like nothing happened?”

“He would be under lockdown for all hours of the day, and he would have a private tutor so he wouldn’t even have to go to school around other people. He would be kept all by himself and…”

“That. Is. Not. Good. Enough.” Mal hissed through clenched teeth. “Do we need to go over this with you again? Quinton is a soulless piece of shit who will stop at nothing to hurt the one person I love more than anything in this world, and if he finds out about Gabriella, who knows what he will do? Pushing him off on another kingdom isn’t a solution.” 

Ben frowned. “Has something changed?” 

Mal stared at him blankly. “What?” 

“I don’t know what’s been happening the past few days. My phone died in Arendelle, and as soon as I saw your missed calls, I came here. What has been going on?” 

“What’s going on is that your parents let Quinton out.” Evie spat with venom in her voice. She sounded nothing like the person he had gotten to know, and Ben figured they were reverting back to their Isle personalities. “They felt guilty about locking kids up on the Isle for the past twenty years, so they decided to let the new group of VKs out. Your mother was even kind enough to tell Dizzy where our room is, so who knows if she told Quinton too and he’s just waiting for an opportunity to attack?” 

“We have trusted you, and you’re not following through.” Mal took over the conversation again. “I gave you an opportunity to prove yourself, and you failed, so I’m ending this tonight.” 

Ben felt his heartbeat quicken. He couldn’t let Mal kill Quinton. He didn’t want her to be forced to go back to the Isle. “I’m working on fixing this, I…” 

“When are you going to realize that there is no fix?” Mal shouted, causing Evie to jump and Ellie to look at her in surprise. “I’m sorry.” She said in a much softer tone, pressing a kiss to Evie’s lips and Ellie’s cheek. “Ben, we’re not waiting anymore. This needs to end now.” 

“We can lock him up in Arendelle.” Ben blurted out. He didn’t know if that was even a possibility, but he would say anything to stop Mal from killing Quinton. “But it’ll have to happen after my coronation. Until then, I will make sure he is as far away from you as possible. I’ll give him extra therapy appointments. I’ll make sure his classes are never even in the same building as yours, and that you have different lunches. I’ll post more guards around the school and tell them to keep an eye out for Quinton doing anything. I’ll put him in a room by himself in a secluded area. My coronation is in two weeks, and I will send him away the day after. I know that it’s not good enough, but that’s what will have to work for now. If I tell my parents that Quinton hurt Evie, they’ll freak out and send him back to the Isle and the program will be shut down. He’ll be locked up with all of those other kids for forever.” He looked at Mal. “If you kill him, you’re going to be sent to the Isle. Ellie will grow up without her mother, and I don’t know how Evie will even function. Do you really want that?” 

For a moment, the hard exterior broke. Ben could see Evie grip tightly onto Mal’s hand, and Mal brought a hand around her to stroke her back. He could tell that they had had this conversation multiple times in the past few days, and he hoped Evie’s disapproval was enough to make Mal not do anything drastic. 

“Two weeks.” Evie stated. “Then he gets locked up.” 

“Two weeks.” Ben confirmed. 

He didn’t know if this was the right thing to do, but it was the best solution he could come up with. He just hoped this whole thing didn’t backfire.


	44. Backfire

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> This story is officially a year old! It's crazy how long I have been working on this. I know my updates are coming a lot slower, but I still intend of finishing out this story! Thank you all for your support and for leaving your comments and kudos, it truly helps me feel motivated to continue writing! The writer's block has been terrible and it's been hard to actually sit down and force myself to work on this, so it's nice to hear everyone's thoughts. 
> 
> This chapter has some of the usual difficult stuff, by this point you're probably used to it lol. Let me know what you think!

Mal may have given in and made a deal with Ben, but she wasn’t happy. 

Contrary to popular belief, she didn’t like hurting people. Her mother had always forced her to bully and hit and scar in order to prove how evil she was, but Mal had never liked doing it. Of course, she would handle things that needed to be done (like killing the men who had hurt Evie), but she would always struggle with the weight of her actions afterwards. 

She didn’t want to kill Quinton. Yes, she wanted him out of their lives permanently, but she wasn’t really interested in killing another person. Mal knew that with Quinton still in this world, Evie would never be safe. 

But at the same time, she didn’t want to go back to the Isle. They had worked so hard to adapt to life in Auradon. Evie had been doing so well with her recovery, Ellie was safe, and the boys were happy. Even Mal liked the life they had begun building for themselves. She knew that if she killed Quinton, all of that would disappear. 

Mal had always been a logical person. She was fully aware that Ben would have to follow through on his threats to send her back to the Isle. She could predict exactly how things would play out from there, but one aspect stuck out in her head- Evie would spiral. 

Mal truly couldn’t blame her. If Evie did something to be sent back to the Isle, she knew that she would react the same way. The two of them were so connected and there was no way they could be separated without breaking them. Mal knew without a doubt that if she killed Quinton and was sent away, Evie would never recover. 

But what was her other option? She had two choices here- she could kill Quinton and have Evie safe, but broken. Or she could let Quinton live, but always have to live in fear and look over her shoulder to make sure he wasn’t trying to harm Evie or Ellie. 

That was the only reason she had agreed to Ben’s two week plan. She knew that a lot could happen in that period of time, but they had to take a little bit of a risk. She wasn’t okay with either of the two options she had come up with, so she would let Ben’s idea play out. 

After growing up on the Isle together, Mal felt like she knew a little about her rivals. With Uma, there was never any wait. If she crossed her, Uma would attack without hesitation, and often without any type of planning. But Quinton was the exact opposite. He had no problem with playing the long game, and his plans were thought out and meticulous, created to hurt his victims as much as possible. 

She had a little hope that Q wouldn’t try anything. If the roles were reversed, she knew that she would be collecting as much information on Auradon before she attempted to do anything. Maybe he would just keep observing and learning, and maybe it would take him two weeks before he tried to attack. 

Mal realized that was wishful thinking, but Auradon had cleared away some of her pessimistic tendencies. All she knew was that she just had to keep an eye on her girls, while also trying to make sure she was guessing Quinton’s moves before he could make them. 

On Monday, the four of them decided to stay home from school. It was the first day for Uma, Harry, Dizzy, Celia, and Quinton, but the first group of VKs weren’t interested in being there. Mal knew that Evie was feeling some guilt about leaving the new group to fend for themselves, but Mal couldn’t care less. They had figured things out on their own and she had no doubt that Uma and the others could too. 

Missing school had resulted in a visit from Ben. As soon as she opened the door, Mal knew she wouldn’t like what he had to say. 

“Hurry up and get in here.” She ordered, poking her head into the hallway to make sure it was empty. “Did anyone see you come here?” 

Ben frowned. “I don’t think so.” 

“You can’t be so careless. What if someone followed you here? No one needs to know where our room is.” 

“I’m sorry…?” Ben said, but it almost sounded more like a question than a statement. Mal screamed internally; the prince had done all he could to help them, but he would never fully understand the way their minds worked or why they made certain choices. 

Mal immediately went over towards the living area. Evie was laying on the floor with Ellie, encouraging the nine month old to crawl. She stood protectively in front of her girlfriend and daughter, while the boys paused their video game. 

“What did he do?” Jay demanded. 

“Who?” Ben asked in confusion. 

“Quinton. Is that why you’re here?” 

“No, I just came to talk to you about school. You weren’t in class today.” Mal didn’t speak, waiting to hear the rest of his sentence. “You missed all last week too.” 

“And you know why.” She finally responded. “We’re not leaving the room while he’s here.” 

“He doesn’t know about Ellie, does he?” Ben questioned. 

Mal’s eyes narrowed. “Not unless one of your prissy princes and princesses told him.” 

“As far as I know, it hasn’t been mentioned. What I’m trying to say is that if he doesn’t know about Ellie, then you’re acting suspicious. Think of it from his perspective. You come over to Auradon, and you realize that the first group of kids never attends classes, but there doesn’t seem to be a reason why.” 

Mal couldn’t believe that Ben had made such a good point. She didn’t like the idea of leaving the room while Quinton was still in Auradon, but it made sense. 

“If he gets suspicious, he’s going to start digging for information.” Carlos chimed in. “Ben is making a lot of sense.” 

“So then some of us go to school.” Mal decided. “We don’t get near him, but we make sure he’s able to catch a glimpse of us throughout the day.” She looked at her girlfriend. “Except you. You stay as far away from him as possible. He doesn’t need to ever lay eyes on you again.” 

“I sat with Fairy Godmother to make his schedule.” Ben informed them. “We made sure that he doesn’t have any classes with any of you, and that your classrooms aren’t even anywhere near each other. We put him in a completely different building whenever it was possible, and we made sure you are always on a different floor. We only have classes this week, and then it’s Christmas break and we won’t have school until after my coronation.” He looked around at the VKs. “Do you celebrate Christmas on the Isle?” 

Mal had heard of it, but she guaranteed anything they did was nothing like what Auradon would do. “We’ve heard of it. There’s no school for Christmas?” 

“No, and no sports or clubs either. Some people travel back to their homes for the holiday, and some stay in the school. I’ll still be in Auradon, and so will Audrey, Jane, Doug, and Lonnie.” 

“What about Goodness Class?” Evie wondered, bringing them back to the original topic. She was still laying on the floor on her stomach, helping Ellie build a tower with blocks. “Isn’t that a requirement for all of the VKs?” 

“Uma, Harry, Celia, and Dizzy are going to join your class.” Ben said. “Quinton will have therapy in the health center at that time.” 

Mal nodded in understanding. “Jay and Carlos, you’ll go to school tomorrow. Evie and I will stay here with Ellie, and then we’ll switch the next day.” 

Ben looked at her and she could tell he really didn’t want to correct her, but his conscience must have gotten the best of him. “It’s already hard to allow one of you to skip school each day to be with Ellie. If two…”

“Two stay home, or we all stay home.” Mal snapped, leaving no room for argument. She didn’t want to call Evie or Carlos weak, but she didn’t trust that they would be able to stand up to Quinton if they had to. She wouldn’t leave any members of her crew vulnerable, especially not when they were taking care of her daughter. 

“Fine.” Ben gave in. “Now I need the four of you to make sure that you’re still coming to your therapy appointments.” 

Mal and her friends nodded. They had learned that the key to keeping FG content was to make sure they were going to therapy. 

“What is your plan for Tourney?” 

Mal hadn’t really considered that. They hadn’t gone to practice at all last week, and luckily they hadn’t had a game. She knew that there was a game coming up this weekend and that there was no way they could win without her and Jay. 

“They’ll go.” Evie interrupted her thoughts. “Thanks for coming to check on us, Ben.” 

The prince had enough sense to understand that he was being dismissed. “Let me know if you need anything.” He walked himself out. 

As soon as they were alone, Mal looked at her girlfriend. “We’re not leaving you here alone while we go to Tourney, so one of us is going to have to miss every day to stay here.” 

Evie shook her head, shuffling Ellie so that she was sitting on her lap. She handed her a couple of blocks. “No.” 

“What do you mean no?” 

“It’s only for an hour. I can handle it.” 

Mal couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Evie knew how dangerous Quinton was. There was no way she was leaving her alone, even if it was only for an hour. “That’s not okay with me.” 

“Oh, so you don’t think I can handle myself?” 

“I’m sure you’re more than capable. But protecting yourself _and_ Ellie? From _him_? That’s not a chance I’m willing to take.” 

Evie stood up and Mal was glad. She wanted them to be at eye level, not her to have to look like she was talking down to her girlfriend. “Mal, I have two choices here. I can keep crying and hiding and begging you to take care of the problem. Or I can use all that I know from sixteen years of being on the Isle and be strong. Like Ben said, to keep Ellie a secret, we’re going to have to pretend everything is normal. That means going to therapy and Tourney and school. It’s only for two weeks, actually less than two weeks now, and for a lot of that time we will have the perfect excuse to stay in the dorm. Then he’ll be shipped off to Arendelle and we won’t have to deal with this anymore.” 

Mal was proud of her bravery, but she didn’t like the risk. “Evie…” 

“I’m tired, M. I can’t do this anymore. I don’t want to be the person who hides under beds or sits in bathtubs or cries in closets. The past couple months in Auradon have been some of the hardest of my life, but they have also been the safest. I’ve actually been happy.” Evie reached out, putting a hand on her cheek. “He’s already taken so much from me. I can’t let him take that too.” 

When those words left her girlfriend’s lips, Mal knew she had to trust her. This was an opportunity for her to validate Evie’s feelings and prove to her that she trusted her to know her own limits. She wrapped an arm around Evie’s waist and pulled her into her a hug. 

“Can we make a compromise?” she asked after a moment. Evie pulled back to look at her. “We at least try and see if someone else is around to stay with you while the rest of us are at Tourney. Uma or Harry, even Audrey or Lonnie. Just someone who can be here in case of an emergency.” 

“That’s fair.” Evie agreed.

“We’ll start tomorrow.” Mal told her. She knew tomorrow was going to be hard. She would have to go to therapy and then Tourney practice, and Evie had sewing club, so they would have to leave Ellie without one of her parents for the first time since Quinton arrived in Auradon. 

“So what’s the plan for the week then?” Jay interrupted. 

“Tomorrow, you guys go to school, Evie and I will stay home with Ellie. After school, you come straight here and watch Ellie so that I can go to therapy and Evie can go to sewing club. Evie will meet you back here to watch Ellie, and we’ll find someone else to stay with her, while the three of us go to Tourney. 

“On Wednesday, Evie and I will go to school. She’ll go to therapy afterwards and I’ll come here to take over for Ellie. During Tourney, it’ll be the same routine- Evie stays with Ellie and another person, the three of us go. 

“On Thursday, Jay and Carlos go to school. After school, Jay goes to therapy and Evie goes to sewing club, and Carlos and I will watch Ellie. Then we all go to Tourney again. 

“On Friday, Evie and I go to school. There’s no therapy and no Tourney, so we all come home after school. Saturday is the Tourney game, so I guess E can stay home with Ellie and maybe we’ll see if someone can come stay with you. Then from Sunday until coronation, we’ll be able to stay in the dorm. Sound good?” her friends nodded in agreement. “Alright, then we better get our stuff ready for the week.” 

Before they could do that, there was a knock on the door. The four of them instantly froze up. 

“It’s Fairy Godmother!” a voice called from the other side. 

Mal rolled her eyes and went over to answer it. She knew they were about to get told off for Carlos and Evie not being in therapy. She threw open the door. “What’s up, FG?” 

“You know exactly ‘what’s up’, Mal.” She invited herself into the room. “You are supposed to be with me,” she pointed towards Evie, then at Carlos, “and you should be with Dr. Bren.” 

“Well they would have been if Ben hadn’t stopped by.” Mal chimed in. 

“It looks like he’s gone now, so no more time to waste!” Fairy Godmother said with a clap of her hands. She looked around at the teenagers, who were frozen in place. “Go on. Evie, dear, we can sit on the couch and do your appointment.” 

“Come on, little princess.” Mal leaned down and scooped Ellie up. “Let’s leave Mama alone.” 

“I want her to stay in the room.” Evie replied immediately. Mal turned to her girlfriend; she may be wanting to try and act like things were normal, but she knew she wouldn’t budge when it came to Ellie leaving the dorm. 

“I’m going to give her a bath.” Mal reassured her. 

“I’m going to walk Carlos to his appointment.” Jay informed Mal once they walked away from the living area, leaving Evie and FG alone. 

“Will you stop by and check on Dizzy and Celia while you’re out? See if you can get Uma and Harry’s phone numbers.” 

“Go it. Come on, C.” Jay led the way out the door. 

Mal took Ellie into the bathroom so she could give her a bath and let Evie have some privacy. She was really going to do her best to honor Evie’s wishes, but she hoped things didn’t backfire on them. 

\-----

The next morning, Mal woke up when she heard Carlos’s alarm go off. She waited for him to turn it off, but it kept ringing. She felt a hand grip her t-shirt and looked down, seeing that Evie was laying on her chest. Her girlfriend groaned in irritation at the noise interrupting her sleep. Ellie wasn’t awake yet, which was rare, so Mal understood wanting to sleep a little longer. 

“Carlos.” Mal called, trying not to be too loud. She didn’t want to wake up Ellie. She glanced over in the darkness towards the other bed, but didn’t see any movement. 

The bathroom door suddenly opened, light filtering into the room and steam pouring out. She squinted, seeing Carlos run out of the bathroom with a towel around his waist. He snatched his phone off the bed and silenced the alarm. 

“Did they wake up?” she could hear Jay whisper. Mal was confused, but she automatically closed her eyes so she could listen; it sounded like Jay’s voice was coming from the bathroom, not the other bed. 

“Turn the light off!” Carlos whisper-yelled, causing Jay to flip the switch and make the room dark again. “They’re still sleeping.” 

Mal felt Evie grab her t-shirt again and she squeezed her waist, silently communicating that she was hearing this too. 

“Good. Like you said, it’s not the time to tell them yet.” 

“I hate lying to them.” 

“Once things settle down, we can tell them about us. But right now, they don’t need more to think about.” 

Mal could hear the distinct sound of kissing. She wanted to scream, and she was sure that Evie was close to bursting. She hated that Jay and Carlos felt like they needed to keep their relationship a secret, but at the same time, she understood and appreciated that they were truly trying to do what they thought was best. 

Ellie chose that moment to wake up and Mal resisted the urge to sigh. Sleeping in was out of the question now. She heard one of the boys walk across the room towards Ellie’s crib. She tapped Evie’s hip, trying to silently tell her to keep pretending to sleep. 

“E?” she heard Carlos whisper. “Evie.” He said a little louder. Ellie had stopped crying as soon as he picked her up, but they all knew it was time for her morning feed. 

Evie did a great job at faking like she was just waking up. She reached out and took their daughter, laying her between them and pulling up her shirt so she could eat. Mal ran her hand through Evie’s hair while she closed her eyes, her breathing leveling out as she fell back asleep. When Evie’s anxiety was high, she struggled with sleep, so it was nice to see her resting. The boys continued to get ready. 

“I’ll be back with breakfast in 20 minutes.” Jay told her after a little while, Mal nodding to confirm that she heard him. She continued to run her fingers through Evie’s hair, lightly scratching her scalp with her fingernails. She couldn’t resist leaning in and pressing a gentle kiss to her cheek. 

“I love you.” She whispered. “In every life, no matter what happens, I’m always going to love you.” She stroked her thumb over Evie’s lips.

“I love you too.” Evie mumbled back, her eyelashes fluttering. “You’re lucky you’re being so cute or I would be pissed you woke me up.” 

Mal smiled. “No you wouldn’t.” 

Evie glanced down at Ellie. “She’s sleeping. Will you put her back in her bed for a little bit?” 

“Mmhmm.” Mal waited until Evie detached Ellie from her breast, then carried her over to her crib. She returned to their bed, instantly pulling Evie into her arms. The blue haired girl snuggled into her and they just laid there, enjoying the silence. 

Suddenly, Evie sat up. She swung a leg over Mal’s waist so she was straddling her. “What the fuck?!” 

Mal looked at her in confusion. “What?” 

“The boys!” her eyes were huge. “Did I dream that?” 

Mal laughed; she had forgotten about it for a few moments. “Nope, they were definitely in the bathroom together and it sounded like they were kissing.” 

“We knew it!” Evie said in excitement, though Mal noticed she was trying to keep her voice a little lower. It was probably for the best that they didn’t wake up Ellie. Then, her expression faltered. “But I hate that they think they have to keep it a secret.” 

Mal sat up, wrapping her arms around Evie’s waist. “We didn’t tell them right away when we started dating.” 

Evie rolled her eyes, bringing her arms up around Mal’s neck. “Yeah, but they knew.”

“So we’ll know and let them tell us when they’re ready.” She pecked her lips. “How did you sleep?”

“Good. No nightmares.” Evie fingers started to play with the little hairs on the back of Mal’s neck. 

“Do you feel like therapy helped?” 

“Mmhmm. I definitely felt calmer after I talked to FG.” Evie wasn’t making eye contact, but Mal was happy that at least she was talking about it. She slid her hands underneath her shirt, resting them on her bare hips. “Sometimes, it’s nice to talk and just get it all off my chest. She agreed that we kind of have to play this like things are normal and just do our best to have a positive mindset instead of worrying about what will go wrong. She said that would help my anxiety.” 

“Then we’ll do our best.” Mal promised, bringing one hand up to gently grab Evie’s chin. “I love you.” 

“Love you too.” Evie connected their lips. They kissed for a few seconds until they were interrupted by a knock on the door. 

“It’s Jay!” they heard before the door opened, revealing their friend. He came into the room with food, setting it down on the desk. 

“My eyes!” he joked, slapping a hand over his face. 

Mal scoffed, about to make a comment about him and Carlos, but one look from Evie shut her up. They needed to let them do this on their own time. Instead, she just gave Evie a hug, pressing a kiss against her girl’s shoulder. 

“Carlos is still in the cafeteria with Ben, Audrey, and Lonnie, so I’m going to go catch up with him before class.” Jay announced. 

“Have you seen anyone else?” Evie asked. Mal knew that she was wondering about Quinton, but also the other four VKs. 

“Nope.” Jay turned towards the door. “Text if you need anything. See you later.” 

“Thanks Jay.” Evie said, then he left. “I don’t know if that’s good news or bad news.” 

Mal decided to try and get her mind off of it. “Do you want to see what Jay brought us for breakfast?” 

Evie groaned. “But you’re so comfy.” 

“Alright, come on.” Mal lifted her into her arms, carrying her over to the desk. She grabbed the bag of food and carried it back over to their bed. Evie had been raised to not eat in bed, and that was a rule she had always carried with her, but Mal figured that one day of breakfast in bed wouldn’t hurt. She sat back down, keeping Evie on her lap as she looked through the bag. “Cinnamon roll, yogurt, sausage, toast, pineapples, and scrambled eggs. Take your pick.” 

“Toast and pineapples.” Evie decided after a moment. 

“There is peanut butter, strawberry jelly, grape jelly…” she smiled at the way Evie scrunched her nose up at the suggestion of grape jelly, knowing her girlfriend wasn’t a fan, “and plain butter to go on your toast.” 

“Peanut butter, I guess.” 

Mal kissed her forehead and handed her the foods she had requested. Evie tried to get up, but Mal locked her arm around her waist. 

“How am I supposed to eat?” 

“You sit your food on your lap, and I’ll put my food on the bed next to us.” 

“If you spill anything…”

“I’ll clean up anything I spill.” Mal promised. “Try and relax, okay? We’re going to have a nice, calm day.” 

That whole day, Mal did her best to stay true to her word. They finished breakfast and then cuddled in bed together until Ellie woke up. They took turns playing with her on the floor while the other person finished up any homework they had to do. Carlos dropped off lunch and they ate together, Mal smiling in pride as she watched Evie finish her second meal that day. After lunch, Evie fed Ellie until she fell asleep, then put her down for a nap. While they waited for their daughter to wake up, the two girls took a shower together (though Mal noticed Evie was kind of jumpy and nervous, so she made it quick so the baby would be in their sightline again). 

When the boys came back from school, they informed them that they hadn’t seen Quinton at all, but they had Goodness class with Uma, Harry, Dizzy, and Celia, and they were all doing okay. They had also talked to Audrey, who would be hanging out with Evie while they were at Tourney. Mal and Evie gathered their things and walked together to therapy and sewing club. Mal could tell Evie wasn’t very thrilled with the idea of leaving her and Ellie, but she knew that she was still trying her best to be positive and not let this destroy her progress. Mal dropped her off at sewing club, then went to the health center to see Dr. Bren. Her appointment mainly focused on her rivalry with Uma, how it had started, and why it lasted as long as it did. As soon as it was over, she called Evie, who was walking back to the dorm with Audrey. She stayed on the phone with her until she got back to the dorm, then called Jay instead and had him talk to her while he surveyed the area and made sure there was no sign of Quinton having followed Evie. She didn’t want to freak her girlfriend out, but she was nervous that Q would catch a glimpse of her and follow her back to the dorm. 

Tourney practice was long and exhausting, and as soon as it was over, the three VKs ran back to the dorm. They made sure to watch their backs and take a different path than the way they came, just in case. When they got back to the room, Evie and Audrey were sitting on the floor playing with Ellie. 

When Ellie’s eyes landed on Mal, she started to whine and hold her hands up. She wasn’t crawling yet, but she could scoot around and attempted to move towards her. 

“Shhh, it’s okay, little princess. I’ve got you.” She picked her up, kissing her cheek. Ellie instantly relaxed into her, resting her head on her shoulder. Mal looked at Evie and Audrey in amusement. “Have you been tiring out my baby?” 

“Yes, we figured it would help her sleep through the night.” Audrey chimed in. 

Mal smirked, then leaned down to give Evie a quick kiss. “Everything good?”

“Yep. You?”

“Mmhmm.” Mal reached her hand down, pulling Evie to her feet. She reached out to help Audrey too, surprising herself with her own politeness. Audrey took her outstretched hand and allowed her to pull her up.

“Are you guys coming down to the cafeteria for dinner?” Audrey asked. “It’s pizza night.” 

“I think we’re going to stay here. It’s been a long day.” Mal responded politely.

“Well I have to go meet Ben down there, so I’ll see you guys at school tomorrow?”

“See you tomorrow.” Evie said. “Ellie, can you say bye-bye?” she grabbed her little hand, making her wave it up and down. 

“Bye, beautiful girl!” Audrey touched Ellie’s hand. 

“Thank you.” Mal told her quietly as she followed her toward the door. 

“Anytime. Cheerleading is only for the outdoor portion of the Tourney season, so I’ll be around whenever you need me to come hang out.” 

“I appreciate that.” 

Without another word, Audrey left the room. Mal shut and locked the door behind her and turned back towards her friends. Evie still seemed like she was in an okay mood, but Mal could tell she was a little off. She went over and sat on the couch, using the arm that wasn’t holding Ellie to pull Evie towards her. 

“What’s up?” Mal questioned. 

Evie looked at her. “What do you mean?” 

“You just don’t seem as happy as you were before. Did Audrey say something?” 

Evie sighed. “No. I was just nervous because you guys weren’t here.” Mal went to speak, but Evie quickly covered her mouth. “But that doesn’t mean that I need one of you to stay with me during Tourney. I’m going to be okay. It’s just going to take a little time to get used to staying here with someone else.” 

Mal could understand that. She didn’t want Evie to feel like they were smothering or babying her, so she just nodded and kissed her cheek. “If there’s ever a time you would rather have one of us stay, promise me that you’ll tell me.”

“Promise.” Evie confirmed. “Now what do we want to do about dinner?” 

\-----

Evie was the first one awake the next morning. She shut her alarm off and looked over, seeing that Mal was waking up too. Today, it was their turn to go to school. Evie was happy to leave the dorm room and return to some kind of normalcy, but she was nervous to leave Ellie behind, and even more nervous to possibly see Quinton. 

She got out of bed, knowing Mal would probably lay there for a few more minutes. She went into the bathroom and got to work on her hair and makeup, spending a little extra time to make sure everything was perfect. She couldn’t let anyone see that she had been affected by the new VKs coming to Auradon. If she showed some type of reaction, she knew the surprisingly observants Auradon kids would notice and it could cause issues with bringing more VKs from the Isle.

She heard Ellie start to cry and knew that it was time for her morning feed. She tried to get to her before anyone else got up, but the by the time she walked out of the bathroom, Mal had already gone over to her crib and lifted her up.

“Hi, little one.” Mal whispered, holding Ellie against her chest. She turned and Evie made eye contact. “We know you’re hungry. Look at your Mama. Isn’t she so pretty?” she came over, pressing a kiss against Evie’s lips as she passed Ellie to her. “God, you’re fucking perfect.” 

“Swear jar.” Evie reminded her. 

Mal sighed. “Is that really still a thing?”

“Yep.” 

“I’m going to need to get a job at this rate.” She reluctantly went over and put a dollar in the swear jar while Evie went over to change Ellie’s diaper. Then, she pulled her t-shirt over her head and sat on their bed, helping Ellie latch on. 

Breastfeeding wasn’t fun. It could be inconvenient, and at times it was painful, but it was nice being so close to her daughter. The skin-to-skin always helped calm them down. Evie knew that with Ellie’s first birthday rapidly approaching, her days of breastfeeding may be numbered, so she tried to treasure these moments. It made it sting a little extra that she had no idea if she would ever have another baby after Ellie, so this could be her one time going through all of this. 

“We’ve been together for the past couple days, but today, Mommy and I are going back to school.” Evie informed her daughter softly. “You’re going to stay with Jay and Carlos, and they’re going to do everything they can to keep you safe. I have therapy, so I’ll be gone a little longer, but Mommy will be back here with you right after school. We’ll bring back lunch too.” Evie stroked her cheek. “But I know you’re going to be safe. I will miss you so much and I’ll be thinking about you all day, but you will get to play and have fun without me.” 

After a little while, Ellie finished eating and drifted off to sleep. Evie knew she would get back up in about an hour and want breakfast, but she would be at school by then. She put her daughter back in her crib and then went to get dressed, seeing that Mal was already standing in the closet and attempting to pick out an outfit. 

“How are you feeling?”

“Nervous.” Evie admitted. “But I know it’ll be okay. The only person in this world that I trust more than the boys is you, so I know they’ll do anything to keep Ellie safe.”

“They will.” Mal agreed, turning and resting her hands on Evie’s hips. “How do you feel about going back to school?” 

Evie shrugged. “I don’t want to see him.”

“Ben said he shouldn’t ever be close by.”

“But we both know that doesn’t mean he’s going to follow the rules. Besides that, what about lunch? He could come in at the same time and…”

“Stop.” Mal used one on hand on her waist to pull her closer, bringing her other hand up to cup her cheek. She kissed Evie’s nose. “We’ll bring back lunch to the room and eat here so we can avoid that. You only have two classes without me today. After first period, I will walk you to study hall and pick you up there so we can go to math together. I’ll walk you to fashion too and you’ll have Audrey there to back you up in case of an emergency. She might be a princess, but something tells me she would have no issue with kicking some ass.” Evie couldn’t help but smile at Mal’s observation; Audrey would definitely fight for those she cared about, and somehow the VKs had ended up on that list.

“You’ll come meet me after fashion?”

“Mmhmm.” Mal kissed her cheek. 

“Will you walk me to therapy too?” Evie hated to ask. She didn’t want to let on to how nervous she was since it was her idea to try and act normal, but she knew Mal would understand.

“Of course, baby.” Mal pulled her into a hug. Evie sighed in contentment, letting Mal’s touch calm her down. The purple haired girl slid her hands under Evie’s t-shirt and started to rub her back. “Do you want me to come walk you back to the room after therapy?” 

“No, I can ask Uma to meet me there.” Evie decided. When Jay and Carlos had gone out the other day, they had managed to get phone numbers for Uma, Harry, Celia, and Dizzy. Mal had texted Uma and asked if she would come stay with Evie while the others were at Tourney, and Uma had agreed without a question. Evie was sure she wouldn’t mind walking with her from therapy. 

“Listen to me for a second.” Mal pulled back, cupping both of her cheeks so Evie was forced to make eye contact. “I know Harry is your brother, and I know majority of the pirates like you and respect you. But I need you to tell me right away if anything happens with Uma while I’m at Tourney that makes you uncomfortable.”

“I will, M.” Evie promised. She understood that a lot was being brought up from Mal’s past right now too. Mal and Uma had never gotten along, and though they trusted Uma and Harry to take care of Ellie, it was because there was no other choice. Evie knew that Mal hated having to ask for something from Uma, and that she was always going to be extra protective of any of her crew when they had to be near her, especially Evie. 

“I’m going to keep my phone right by my water bottle at practice so that if you text me, I’ll see it as soon as possible. If anything happens, I know you can defend yourself. But I need you to be extra smart about what you do since you’ll have Ellie too.” Mal kissed her forehead, then pulled away. She reached up, grabbing a box that Evie hadn’t seen before off of one of the shelves. Mal brought it over to her and opened it. 

Evie could see different knives and daggers inside that they had used on the Isle and some newer ones. She was surprised to see all of this, especially since they had confiscated their weapons at the health center when they first arrived in Auradon three months ago.

“I talked to Ben and he was able to get a couple things back for us. I know it’s been a while since we’ve had to carry stuff like this, but I want you to know that it’s here. If anything happens, you grab Ellie and get a weapon.” Mal put the box down and grabbed a black bag off of the ground. “This bag has changes of clothes for everyone, diapers, a couple of snacks for Ellie, medical supplies, and a knife. If you need to run, get this bag and go. We’ll find you.” 

Suddenly, Evie felt sick. Auradon wasn’t supposed to be like this. She didn’t want an escape plan or a box of weapons or to have to worry about defending her daughter. She just wanted things to go back to how they were before Quinton came. 

“Hey.” Mal must have noticed her face because she leaned in, resting their foreheads together. “It won’t be like this for much longer. Even with as brave as you’re being, I know this is scary. I hope that we’ll never have to use any of this, but we need to be prepared, just in case.” Mal gave her a gentle kiss. “There’s no guarantee that you’ll need it. But I’ll be damned if I leave you here alone with Uma and don’t prepare you for what you can use to get out of a bad situation.” 

“Uma isn’t going to hurt me, Mal.” Evie said. She truly believed that. Uma had never once done anything to bother her, let alone harm her. She had too much respect for Harry and his soft spot for his little sister.

Mal ran her fingers through Evie’s hair. “I know you trust her. I’m trying really hard to trust her too. She took care of our baby for two months and kept her safe. But I need you to understand that other than Jay and Carlos, I don’t think I will ever fully trust anyone when it comes to you. You are the most important thing in my life, E. You know that.” Mal gently rubbed their noses together. “I know you are strong. I know you are more than capable of defending yourself, and if it came down to it, I know you would do whatever it took to protect Gabriella. But if something happened, I need _both of you_ to be okay. So just in case you need it, you know now that we have weapons and supplies ready.” Mal gave her a kiss, then picked up the box and put it back on the shelf. “You better pick out your outfit or we’re going to be late to breakfast.” 

Evie understood that Mal would always be prepared for worst case scenarios. It was just part of her who her girlfriend was and how she was raised. It was scary to think about, but Evie knew there was a very real possibility that Quinton could try something, so she was glad to have an escape plan. She wrapped her arms around Mal. 

“Thank you.” She whispered into the hug, then pressed a gentle kiss against her neck. 

“Mmhmm.” Mal squeezed her back just as tightly. She let go after a moment. “Come on, Pretty Girl. We have to get moving.” She reached into the racks of clothing and pulled out her purple leather jacket, then started to change clothes. 

They got dressed quickly and then grabbed their school stuff. They didn’t have time to get all of Ellie’s things ready for the day, but they knew the boys were more than capable. They left quietly, trying not to wake the boys, and went down to the cafeteria. 

Mal took the lead, her hand locked in Evie’s. She stomps were loud and assertive, and as usual, the Auradon kids were quick to get out of her way. It didn’t go unnoticed by Evie that her girlfriend had chosen her Isle jacket, and she had picked out her own in response. Evie couldn’t help but think about how she could design all new leather jackets for her crew with the much stronger Auradon materials. She had already started to visualize exactly what they would look like, and she knew that she would probably spend study hall designing. 

When they got to the cafeteria, Mal grabbed a tray to put their foods on while Evie looked around. She caught a glimpse of Harry and Uma; they were sitting alone at a table, the kids around them staring. Evie could also see Audrey, Lonnie, Jane, and Doug at a different table. 

“I wanna sit with Harry and Uma.” Evie said quietly, knowing that Mal heard her even though she was paying attention to the food she was grabbing. “We need to check in.” 

“Yep.” Mal agreed. “Yogurt and fruit?” 

“Yes please.” Evie reached out and grabbed two cups so they could get their drinks. Once Mal finished selecting their foods, they walked over to the drink station. “What do you want to drink?” 

“Whatever you’re getting is fine.” 

Evie filled both of their cups with orange juice and they walked to Uma and Harry’s table. The two of them were on opposite sides, so Evie sat next to Harry and Mal took the empty seat next to Evie. 

“Good morning.” Evie greeted, sliding Mal’s cup over to her. Mal passed her the yogurt and mixed fruits she had chosen, leaving herself with eggs, bacon, a biscuit, and pudding. 

“It’s good to see you.” Harry told her, but he didn’t smile. Evie wasn’t surprised- she knew how hard it was when you first came to Auradon, and that they had to figure out where they fit in. Asserting their power and making it clear that they weren’t people to be messed with was important, and if the Auradon kids saw them being weak, they might try and treat them badly.

“Would have been nice to have some familiar faces on our first day.” Uma chimed in from across the table, her eyes never stopping their scan around the room. 

“It’s not personal.” Mal said, gaining Uma’s attention immediately. “We just have to take care of Evie and Ellie right now.” 

“How is Ellie?” Uma asked, her eyes glued to Mal’s. 

“She has adjusted to being here. She’s eating and sleeping and growing, and we owe some of that to you.”

Evie nodded in agreement. “Thank you for taking such good care of her.” 

“I wouldn’t let an innocent kid suffer, Blue.”

“Especially not your kid.” Harry told her. “Are you guys taking turns staying with her?” 

“Fairy Godmother is really big on making sure we attend classes and therapy, so we’re trying to make sure that we’re still doing that and also keeping someone home with Ellie.” Evie answered, purposely keeping her answer vague. She felt Mal’s hand squeeze her thigh and she knew that she was happy; though Evie didn’t care if they knew, she was sure that Mal wouldn’t want the pirates to know their exact routine when it came to their daughter. “Where are Dizzy and Celia?”

“The younger kids’ classes start an hour after ours.” Harry responded. 

“Are they doing okay?”

“As far as they’ve said.” 

Evie felt Mal’s hand on her leg again. She turned to look at her, seeing Mal’s eyes dart towards her breakfast. She had forgotten about eating while she was talking. She opened up her fruit and yogurt and started to get her food ready. 

“Has anyone been bothering you?” Mal questioned. 

Uma scoffed. “I wish they would try.” 

“I’m just saying that we didn’t have the best experience when we first got here. I don’t know if they’re just used to VKs being here now so they’ve back off, but some of these kids can be horrible. Don’t discredit them just because they’re from Auradon because they’re capable of the same shit that people do on the Isle.” 

Evie flinched slightly at the implication. She didn’t think Uma and Harry picked up on it, but she knew that Mal was referring to Chad attempting to hurt her. She felt Mal’s hand gently rub her lower back and she knew that was her silent way of apologizing for bringing it up. Evie leaned into her touch, communicating to her that it was okay. 

“Got it.” Harry interrupted. They were both second in command of their crews, so Evie automatically knew that Harry was attempting to stop Uma from starting an argument. 

Now that everyone was quiet, Evie took a moment to look around. She was surprised to see lights strung around the cafeteria, along with red and green decorations. There was a giant tree near the exit with colorful ornaments hanging from its branches. 

“What is all of this?” Evie wondered out loud. Mal noticed her gaze and started to look around too. 

“Apparently it’s almost Christmas.” Harry responded. “Now I guess we know why there was so much junk on the shipment in December.” 

“Good morning!” a new voice joined the conversation and the four teenagers looked over. Lonnie walked over and sat down next to Uma. “We saw you guys siting over here and figured you could use some company.” 

“Plus we haven’t seen you two in a while, so we wanted to check on you.” Doug chimed in, sitting on Uma’s other side.

Evie didn’t know how this was going to go over. She could see Uma and Harry immediately tense up, staring at the strangers who were sitting around them. Jane came over and sat on Lonnie’s other side, greeting them with a quiet hello. Audrey was the last to join and sat next to Harry. 

“About time you guys came back. It’s more entertaining talking to you than watching Jay and Carlos scarf down their meals.” Audrey said in disgust. 

“This is Uma and Harry.” Evie introduced, noticing the way Harry leaned closer to her and further from Audrey. Uma didn’t have the same luxury since she was sandwiched between Doug and Lonnie, but the scowl on her face showed her discomfort. 

“I’m Audrey, and this is Doug, Lonnie, and Jane.” The princess announced. “Uma and Harry are the ones who took care of Ellie for you, right?” 

“Yes.” Evie answered. “Harry is my brother.” 

“They know about Ellie?” Harry mumbled in disbelief. 

“Not everyone does, but these are people who have been helping us since we came here. They’ve met her. They are loud and a little weird, but they’re good people and we trust them.” Evie responded quietly. 

“I didn’t know you had a brother.” Doug said. 

“We have the same mother.” Evie explained. Immediately after she said the words, she felt a little nauseous. She didn’t want to think about her mother right now. 

Mal still had a hand on her back, and she slid her fingers underneath her shirt and started to gently scratch in circles on her exposed skin. Evie hadn’t been prepared for all the questions that would be popping up. It was making her more uncomfortable than she had anticipated. 

“Take a deep breath.” Mal whispered as she leaned in close to her ear, turning her face so no one would hear what she was saying. “Start eating your breakfast. I’ll change the subject. I know this is a lot, but you’re doing such a good job, baby.” She quickly kissed right below her ear, then turned to the others. “Are you guys all coming to the Tourney game this weekend?” 

As everyone started to talk and explain what Tourney was to Uma and Harry, Evie took reluctant bites of her breakfast. Out of everything that had been going on the past couple days, eating had been the easiest of her problems to deal with. But as she lost control of the situation around her, she found herself falling into old habits and trying to make up for it by controlling how much food she put into her body. Every time she ate, she felt like she was having a mental battle with herself. The only thing helping her keep the food in her stomach was knowing that she needed calories to produce milk for Ellie. 

Evie totally zoned out of the conversation and just focused on eating. With every bite, she reminded herself that she needed to be healthy, and that her daughter needed a positive role model. She never wanted Ellie to witness her battle with food and then feel negatively about her own body. She was determined to beat her eating disorder before Ellie was old enough to form those opinions about herself. 

“E.” Mal’s quiet voice snapped her out of her thoughts. She looked down, seeing that she only had a couple bites of her yogurt left. “We need to take food to the boys. Do you want to hurry so you can come with me, or would you rather stay here and I can run food to them?” 

“I wanna go with you.” Evie said without a second thought. She hurried to eat the last few bites of her food, not even noticing the proud looks on Mal’s and Audrey’s faces. She stood up and started to clean up her garbage, then looked to Harry and Uma. “See you guys in Goodness class?” They nodded in confirmation and then Evie walked away with Mal, knowing she had a long day ahead of her. 

\-----

Evie’s morning classes flew by. After they took food to Carlos and Jay, they went to English class. The whole class was a lecture and Evie did her best to focus, but she kept zoning out. Mal had sat next to her and traced designs into her palm the entire time, hoping to keep her focused, and it helped a little. 

True to her word, Mal walked Evie to study hall. Normally she had this class with the boys and they would do their homework together while laughing and joking around. Since she was alone, Evie quickly finished her English homework, then pulled out her sketchbook and started to design the leather jackets for her crew. She had finished her jacket and was halfway through drawing Mal’s when she got the idea to make one for Ellie. When the bell rang, Evie was surprised to see that Mal was already in the hallway despite the fact that her art class was on a different floor across the school. She didn’t question it and just took her hand, letting her lead them to math. 

Mr. Reynolds seemed surprised to see the two of them. Evie guessed it was because she hadn’t been to school in a while. She turned in all of her homework, letting him know that she didn’t know if he would accept it or not, but that she and Mal had been staying up to date on their work. She could tell he wasn’t happy, but after he gave them a pop quiz and the two girls passed with flying colors, he seemed to lay off a little bit. 

Goodness class was next and Evie stayed glued to Mal’s side in the hallway. She scanned her eyes over the crowd, waiting to see Quinton. But by the time they got to the classroom, she hadn’t caught so much as a glimpse of the back of his head. 

“Have you seen him?” she asked Mal quietly. 

“Mmhmm, on my way to art. I told you that I wanted to make sure he saw us and knows that we’re going to school, so I went out of my way to get near him. It took every ounce of my self-control to not beat his ass.” 

Evie smiled at her, seeing Mal’s clenched jaw and balled up fists. “I’m proud of you for not giving in.” she rested a hand on the back of her neck and kissed her forehead, feeling Mal’s muscles relax. 

“EVIE!” Of course, that was Dizzy. This was the first time Evie had seen the younger girl since she appeared at their dorm room, and she had expected her to be excited. She wrapped the preteen in her arms. 

“Hi Diz.” She kissed the top of her head affectionately. “How are you liking Auradon so far?” 

“It’s so beautiful! Prince Ben is so nice, he made sure I have all the materials I need to make my jewelry. I’ve been working on a couple of things for you.” 

Evie smiled at her enthusiasm. One person the Isle had never managed to damage was Dizzy, and Evie hoped that never changed. She and Mal took their usual seats, while Dizzy chose the table in front of her, turning in her seat so she could set a couple pieces out on Evie’s table. Mal played with the ends of Evie’s hair, watching her with a small smile as Dizzy explained what each thing was and what her thought process had been behind it. 

Uma and Celia entered next, both girls quiet. Celia came over and sat next to Dizzy, while Uma sat at the table Jay and Carlos usually occupied. Evie turned to look at her and Uma gave a short nod, which Evie returned. Harry walked in a moment later and sat with his captain. 

“Uma.” Mal said, instantly gaining the attention of everyone in the room. Evie tensed up, hoping that her girlfriend wasn’t about to start an argument. The two younger girls knew better than to get involved when the two crew leaders were speaking. 

“Mal.” She responded dryly, turning her head lazily to look at the purple haired girl. 

“You’re still good to stay with Evie today, right?” Uma nodded once. “She has therapy in Fairy Godmother’s office today. Can you meet her there and walk back to the room with her?” 

“Sure, I’ll escort the princess around campus.” Uma stated. Evie tried not to flinch, knowing that Mal would take both her tone and her words as an argument. 

“If you don’t want to help…” Mal began. 

“Thank you, Uma.” Evie interrupted. She looked at her girlfriend sternly. “Stop.” 

Mal’s eyes narrowed. “Evie…”

“No.” Evie spoke quietly, not wanting anyone else to hear their conversation. “You’ve always let me handle situations with the pirates. I can handle this one too. Uma is the strongest ally we could have right now. Don’t ruin that because you think she was being rude towards me.” 

Mal gritted her teeth. “No one is allowed to disrespect you.” 

“She’s not.” Evie promised. “Please, Mal. Just let it go.” 

Mal must have realized she was right because she just turned her body and stared towards the front of the classroom. Luckily, that was when Fairy Godmother chose to enter the room. 

“Good morning, children!” she greeted, walking to the front of the room to put her things down. “Evie, Mal, I’m glad to see you back in school.” The two girls just nodded in acknowledgement, not bothering to speak. Evie could see a little of FG’s smile fade at their quietness. 

She launched into a lesson on respect towards others and the importance of therapy. Evie was pretty sure FG had already taught this lesson to the first group of VKs, but she figured it was better to sit through something they had already done than to have to actually pay attention. Class dragged on and knowing lunch was coming made Evie a little nervous. 

She felt Mal’s hand slide onto her leg under the table, her fingertips tracing patterns up and down her thigh. Evie relaxed into her touch. She didn’t know why, but right now, she really felt like she needed a hug. She was happy that they would be going back to the room for lunch and that she could hug and kiss her girlfriend without anyone watching. 

When the bell rang, all of the VKs stood. Mal picked up Evie’s bag for her and as she handed it over, she raised an eyebrow towards her. Evie just nodded, trying to tell her that she was okay. 

“Can we all eat lunch together?” Celia wondered. “Meals are so awkward because everyone just stares.” 

“Evie and I have to bring food to Jay and Carlos.” Mal answered. 

“Oh.” Dizzy’s face fell slightly. 

“We’ll eat together soon.” Mal tried to reassure her. It made Evie smile; when they first met Dizzy, Mal had thought she was just an annoying little kid. But once Evie took a liking to her, she had done her best to make the girl feel important. 

“Okay.” Dizzy smiled, trusting Mal to follow through. The most important thing she had learned on the Isle was that Mal honored her word, so Evie knew she fully expected Mal to do it again. 

They walked down to the cafeteria together, Mal keeping an arm locked around Evie’s waist. Evie couldn’t deny that it felt better knowing that Uma and Harry were there too. She studied the faces of the other students, waiting to see Quinton. 

“He has a different lunch.” Uma commented from behind her. Evie wasn’t surprised that the pirate had figured out what was bothering her. Uma was a lot of things, but stupid wasn’t one of them. “I stole his schedule. He has an extra therapy appointment while we’re all in Goodness class, and it runs until after our lunch. For the past three days, I haven’t seen him at all during this time.” 

“Thanks.” Mal responded shortly. “If you notice anything…”

“Listen.” Uma interrupted, causing everyone to stop walking and turn to face each other. “I can’t stand you, and I know the feeling is mutual. But her?” she pointed towards Evie. “Your girl has never done a bad thing to anyone, and my first mate will give almost anything to protect her. I raised your daughter for two months, so I would think by now that you would understand that where Evie is concerned, I have your back. I hate Quinton too and I will work with you on getting rid of him because that is what’s best for both of us, and for every other kid on the Isle.” 

“I appreciate it, Uma.” Mal said, her voice a little gentler this time. “All of it.” 

Uma nodded. “Evie, I’ll see you after therapy.” 

“Thank you.” Evie offered her a small smile, and then they all parted ways to go grab their lunches. As she walked with Mal, she squeezed her hand. “I’m proud of you.” 

“Why?” 

“Because you’re working with Uma. You’re seeing the bigger picture, and you’re playing things smart instead of reacting with your emotions. She’s a powerful ally, M, and I really think you need to start considering that.” 

“One step at a time.” Mal said, pressing a quick kiss to the top of Evie’s hand and then grabbing to-go boxes for their lunches. 

\-----

Evie went her entire day without seeing Quinton. By the end of school, her nerves were acting up and she was exhausted from having to pretend she was okay for so long. Mal dropped her off at therapy with a kiss, assuring her that she was strong enough to do this. 

The actual appointment went exactly as she expected. Dr. Bren and Fairy Godmother insisted on talking about the importance of coming to school and therapy, and even brought up her possibly getting a nanny once Quinton was gone so that she and her friends could come to school every day. Evie didn’t object, but she knew in the back of her mind that a nanny wasn’t something she was interested in. Once they were done with that topic, the conversation moved onto her eating and how that had been going, and Evie was proud to tell them that she had been doing her best. Dr. Bren reminded her that it was time for Ellie’s check up since she had been in Auradon for a month now, just like Evie and the others had done after their first month. Luckily, she said they could wait until after Quinton was gone so Evie didn’t have to risk taking Ellie out of the room. 

When the appointment ended, Evie got a text message from Uma asking where Fairy Godmother’s office was. Instead of telling her, she just said that she would meet her downstairs near the front door. Evie exited the office and started to walk towards the stairs. 

It wasn’t until she was in the staircase that she felt the hairs on the back of her neck stand up. She couldn’t explain how, but she just knew that Quinton was nearby. She picked up her pace, wishing that she had grabbed a weapon or something that she could use against him. She hoped that this was all just part of her imagination. 

“There she is.” She heard the panic-inducing sound of Quinton’s voice. It practically echoed in the empty stairwell and Evie wanted to pinch herself for being so stupid. She should have told Uma to meet her by the office, or taken the elevator. Of course the other VKs would be just as weary of the elevator as her and her friends and insist on taking the stairs. “I’ve been looking for you for the past three days, but it seems like you’re avoiding me.” 

“I’m not doing this with you.” Evie stated, her voice coming out strong and proud. Quinton was standing near the doorway that would lead to the second floor of the building. She could go back upstairs or try and get past him and keep going downstairs, but she didn’t want to turn her back to him. She knew he was bigger and stronger and would have no problem taking her down. 

“You’re definitely getting feisty again.” Q smirked, running his eyes up and down her body. “I like that.” Evie stayed silent, backing up as he took a step closer to her. “You know, I paid a lot for you, and it was worth it. God, you have no idea how much fun it was to break a slut like you.” He took another step forward, causing Evie to step back again. “But even once you were gone, I continued taking care of your mother because she promised me you would be back. I don’t intend on letting all of that payment go to waste.” 

“I’m not your possession.” Evie spat. He stepped towards her again, but she stood still. “What’s wrong with you? You can’t find a person on your own, so you think you can buy people and use them however you want?” 

“Why would I want another person when I could have you?” he reached out, trailing his fingertips down her arm. Evie felt the bile rise in her throat and she bit down on her tongue, trying to keep herself from flinching. “I’ve thought about nothing but you since I came to Auradon, Genevieve. The way all that pretty makeup runs away when you cry, the feeling of your ribs snapping under my hands, the sounds of your screams.” He touched her cheek. “You belong to me, and you will listen to what I say unless you want me to kill you and your little friends.” 

“Don’t fucking touch me.” Evie nearly growled, taking another step back to get out of his grasp. But this time, Quinton didn’t let her. He tangled one of his hands in her hair and yanked her forward, keep her in his personal space. 

“If you scream, all of the good people of Auradon will know what a disgusting slut you are. I will tell them all about how you would beg me to fuck you.” 

Evie tried to shuffle away from him, but his grip was strong. She did the only thing she could think of and slammed her head forward, knocking it into his cheek. Quinton shouted in pain and grabbed her hair even harder, then raised his hand to hit her. Evie shut her eyes, flinching in anticipation of the pain. 

“You better get the fuck away from her. Now.” 

Evie was yanked closer to Quinton as she opened her eyes, looking at Uma. The girl was holding a knife towards Q and stepping closer to him. She didn’t show any fear as she walked right up to him.

“Get your hands off of her.” 

“What are you going to do, Shrimpy?” Quinton laughed. 

“I’ll slit your fucking throat.” She stared straight at him with a smile. “I’ll do it with this smile too and they can throw me back on the Isle for all I care.” She touched the knife against his cheek. “Let. Her. Go.” 

Quinton shoved Evie away from him, knocking her onto the ground. She winced at the feeling of the stairs digging into her back and watched as he ran downstairs.

Now that the immediate danger was gone, Evie started to shake. Her head was throbbing from where he had grabbed her hair, her stomach was bubbling to the point she felt like she might throw up, and she wouldn’t be surprised if she had a bruise on her back and on her forehead from where she headbutted him. 

“Are you okay?” Uma asked, reaching a hand out to help her up. 

But Evie couldn’t answer. Her breaths were coming in short pants and she struggled to pull in enough air. If she didn’t die from this panic attack or from Quinton coming back, she was going to die in embarrassment. She didn’t want Uma to see her freak out, but it didn’t seem like there was a chance of her recovering from this. 

They could hear footsteps coming from upstairs and Uma put an arm around Evie’s waist. “Okay, let’s go to the bathroom. Just keep breathing, Blue.” She lead her through the door to the second floor and into the first bathroom they could find. 

Evie immediately sat down on the floor near the sinks, praying that no one else would come in since classes were over and she didn’t think there were any clubs meeting in this building today. That made her wonder how Quinton had found her. Was he following her? Did he just wait in the building until she was done with her appointment? Or did they just happen to cross paths? What if he was waiting outside and planned on following her to the dorm? 

“It’s never going to stop.” She whimpered, bringing her knees up to her chest. “He’s not going to stop.” 

“Evie, you have to try and breathe, okay?” Uma kneeled down next to her. “Shit, I don’t know what to do. Just try and focus on breathing. Don’t think about anything else.” 

“You don’t get it. He’s always going to come after me.” Evie cried, burying her face in her knees. She tried, but she couldn’t catch her breath. It got to the point where she knew she couldn’t talk anymore. Her heart was about to beat out of her chest, her palms were sweaty, and her head was pounding. Maybe she could just close her eyes and she would pass out. 

“Come on, Evie.” Uma didn’t touch her. Her words weren’t helping, and it was just making her more anxious. She didn’t want the pirate to see her weakness. She had to be strong. She needed to pull it together. “I’m going to call Mal, okay? She’ll know what to do.”

“No!” Evie managed to respond, lifting her head to meet Uma’s eyes. “No.” She couldn’t let Mal know what had just happened. If Mal knew that Quinton had put his hands on her, he would be dead within minutes. She couldn’t let Mal go back to the Isle. Mal was the most important person in her life and she knew she wouldn’t survive here without her. Besides that, if they sent Mal back, Maleficent would find her. When she realized Mal obviously didn’t have Fairy Godmother’s wand, she was as good as dead. “Please, no.” 

“She can help you. I don’t know what to do.” Uma was starting to look a little frantic. 

Evie closed her eyes, doing her best to concentrate on her breathing for a moment. She needed to calm down or she truly might pass out. While the relief of being unconscious didn’t sound terrible right now, she knew there was no chance at her hiding this from Mal if she passed out. 

“If Mal knows, she’ll kill him.” Evie whimpered. 

Uma raised an eyebrow. “I’m not seeing the problem there.” 

That sent Evie’s anxiety to an even higher level. She couldn’t let Uma tells Mal. “She’ll get sent back.”

Uma studied her. “You don’t know that. Maybe Prince Ben will pardon her. He seems like he likes you guys enough.” 

Evie shook her head frantically. “He will. He already told us what would happen if Mal kills him.” She forced herself to take a shaky breath, though it wasn’t as deep as she needed it to be. “No one can kill him.”

“So what, we’re supposed to just let him keep walking around free?”

“He’s gone after Ben’s coronation. We just have to get through the next 11 days and then he’ll be sent to Arendelle and locked up.” 

After that, Evie couldn’t speak anymore. It was like her throat completely closed up. She put her hands on her head and closed her eyes, trying to force herself to breath. She kept hearing Mal’s voice repeating the words, “Breathe, baby”, just like she would be doing if she was here. 

Then, the door opened. Evie didn’t think things could get any worse, but as soon as she heard the door, she slammed back against the wall, trying her best to get as far away from whoever came in. She hoped that Uma would keep her safe because she knew that she was useless right now. 

“Okay, what the hell is going on?” 

Evie instantly recognized Audrey’s voice. She opened her eyes, seeing Uma standing with her knife raised and Audrey entering the bathroom. Her eyes flittered back and forth between Uma and Evie. 

“I don’t know much about what happened to you guys on the Isle, but I know you had some sort of rivalry with Mal’s crew.” Audrey stated, directing her attention to Uma. “The fact that you are standing here with knife and Evie is bawling her eyes out on the floor doesn’t look good for you.” 

“It’s okay, Audrey.” Evie winced, feeling pain in her chest from how hard her lungs were struggling. 

Uma tucked her knife back into her boot and kneeled back next to Evie, turning towards Audrey. “She’s having a panic attack. Do you know how to help her?”

Audrey kneeled on Evie’s other side. “Did you call Mal?”

“No!” Evie insisted. 

“We can’t call Mal.” Uma told her. “Evie, listen to me. You need to focus and try to breathe. You have to calm down. We need to get back to your room or Mal is going to freak out because we’re about to be running late.” 

That made Evie even more anxious. She knew Uma was right, but she couldn’t help herself from freaking out. She whimpered as more tears ran down her cheeks. 

“Okay, I know you don’t like being touched, but I’ve only ever seen you calm down from Mal touching you, so tell me if I’m doing something wrong.” Audrey reached out, cupping Evie’s cheeks. “Close your eyes. You need to focus on your breathing. Inhale, Evie.” 

Evie shut her eyes and did her best to follow Audrey’s orders. It did feel weird to have someone that wasn’t Mal or the boys touching her, but she trusted Audrey. She knew that she wouldn’t hurt her, and that even if she did attempt something, Uma would protect her. She focused on how safe she felt with these two girls who had both at one point been her enemy. 

“There you go, Blue. Keep breathing just like that.” Uma praised. 

Audrey reached over and started to rub her back with one hand. “Take a deep breath and let some of that tension out. Your body is so tight. You can do this, Evie. You’ve done much harder things before.” 

With Audrey’s and Uma’s encouragement, Evie finally managed to calm down. Her breathing still wasn’t totally normal, but it was as good as it was going to get. Uma still kept her distance, but Audrey didn’t have a problem with rubbing her back or stroking her hair until she finally calmed down.

Evie opened her eyes to look at her phone. What felt like hours had been a total of ten minutes from the time she saw Quinton to now. She knew that Uma was right and she needed to get moving or else Mal was going to freak out and probably come try to find her. 

Evie stood, going over to the mirror. Her skin was blotchy and red, her eyes were bloodshot, and her makeup was running. Her hair was messy from where Quinton had pulled it, and she had a small bruise on her forehead from where she had hit him. 

She pulled out her bag and grabbed her brush, quickly running it through her hair. She readjusted her part so she could use her hair to cover her bruise. Then, she grabbed a paper towel and wetted it, running it under her eyes to clean up her makeup. It was moments like these where she hated how well Mal knew her; she would be able to take one look at her and know she was crying, so Evie had to do her best to get herself cleaned up and back to her usual perfection. She threw on a little more eyeliner and foundation, just to be safe, then turned back to Uma and Audrey. 

“How do I look?” 

“Better.” Audrey commented. “I don’t know what just happened, but are you okay?” 

“I’m going to be fine.” Evie answered. “Please don’t mention any of this to Mal, or Ben, or anyone.” 

Audrey looked hesitant for a moment, then nodded. “I won’t.” 

“Thanks.” She glanced at Uma. “Let’s go.” 

The two girls walked out of the bathroom, this time going to the elevator. They exited the building quickly, both of their eyes scanning the area for any sign of Quinton. Evie’s phone vibrated as they walked. 

_From: Mal  
Where are you? You’re late. Are you okay?_

_To: Mal  
On our way. Therapy ran a few minutes late. See you in a minute! _

Evie inhaled shakily and put her phone back in her pocket.

“Are you going to tell them what happened?” Uma asked. 

“No.” 

“You should. If he’s going after you, you’re going to need your crew to back you up. Besides that, you know that Mal would do anything for you.”

“I know, and that’s why I can’t tell. She’ll kill Quinton without a second thought. Like I said, Ben told us that if Mal kills Quinton, she has to go back to the Isle. I’m not living in a world without her, Uma. I can’t.” 

They arrived at the dorm building and went inside, taking the elevator again so they could get upstairs quicker. Evie didn’t even have a chance to touch the door before it flew open. 

“She’s here!” Jay called out. “Come on, we need to go or Coach is going to have us running laps.” He gave her a quick kiss on the forehead. “Hey Princess. How was your day?”

“Good. How was yours?” She offered him a smile, feeling her lying abilities finally come back to her. Ever since coming to Auradon, she had been terrible at lying to her friends. She felt guilty for being happy that she was doing it again, but sometimes hiding the truth was necessary.

“It was fine. Ellie was an angel. She took a good nap, but she might want some milk.” Carlos joined them in the doorway, his Tourney bag slung over his shoulder. 

Evie walked past them and into the room, feeling Uma follow her. Mal was finishing changing Ellie’s diaper, though she was in her full practice uniform. She turned towards them, holding Ellie in her arms. 

“Hey Princess.” She greeted. Evie noticed her eyes lingered on her face for a second longer than normal, and Mal’s head slightly tilted to the side. She opened her mouth as if she was going to ask a question. 

“It’s weird seeing you in a uniform.” Uma interrupted the conversation. “Who would have ever thought you would be on a sports team?” 

Mal turned towards her rival, not able to give up the opportunity to make a comment back. “It’s part of therapy. Just wait, they’ll make you join one too. Who knows, maybe you’ll be a cheerleader?” 

Before Uma could respond, Carlos’s voice chimed in. “Mal, we have to go. We’re already late.” 

Mal glanced at Uma again, then passed Ellie to Evie. She gave the blue haired girl a quick kiss. “See you in a little bit. Call if you need anything.” She grabbed her bag and followed the boys out of the room. 

Now that they were alone, Evie felt her shoulders sink with the weight of her lies. She knew she needed to calm herself down because Mal definitely noticed something was off, and Uma’s teasing had been the only reason she didn’t question her on it. Evie sighed and went over to sit on the couch. Ellie’s tiny hand came forward to touch her nose, then her lips. 

“Hi baby.” Evie said, pressing a kiss against Ellie’s little palm. “Did you have a good day with the boys? Mama missed you.” 

Uma came over and sat on the other end of the couch. “How are you going to hide that bruise on your head from Mal?” 

“Makeup.” Evie responded, self consciously reaching up to make sure her hair was still covering the tender spot. She couldn’t help but wince since the motion pulled her hair and her scalp was burning. She remembered that she had fallen and hit her back on the stairs. She set Ellie on the couch then stood, turning around and pulling her shirt up. “Is there a bruise on my back?” 

“Yeah, but it’s not huge. She might not notice.” 

“We shower together almost every night.” Evie said without thinking about who she was talking to. “She’s definitely going to notice.” She sat down. “God, I’m so fucking stupid.” 

“This isn’t your fault, Evie.” 

“I should have been paying more attention. I shouldn’t have gone in a stairwell by myself, and I shouldn't have let him get the upper hand.” Evie shook her head. “I can’t afford to be weak.” 

“Did you have a weapon with you?” Uma asked.

“No.”

“That’s the first thing you need. You shouldn’t ever be by yourself and not have a weapon. I’m surprised Mal doesn’t make you carry one.”

“She used to, but I didn’t want to do that in Auradon.” Evie bit her lip. “Things were supposed to be different. I wasn’t supposed to be scared anymore.” 

“You said there are only 11 more days, right? Soon you won’t be.” Evie knew that feelings probably weren’t Uma’s strong suit, but she appreciated the other girl’s attempts to make her feel better. “Is there anything I can do to help?”

“Can you watch Ellie for a couple minutes? I need to fix my hair and reapply my makeup before Mal gets back or she’ll notice something is off.” 

“I might have an idea for what to do about the bruises.” Uma seemed hesitant as she spoke, which wasn’t a normal quality for the dark skinned girl. “Since we crossed the bridge, I’ve noticed I have some of my mother’s magic.” She reached up and grasped the shell necklace hanging around her neck, and Evie noticed the slight glow it let off. “I’m sure there is some sort of healing spell. But I’ve never done it before, so it could be risky.” 

Evie nodded her head, but she decided that it was worth the risk. She went into the closet to retrieve her mother’s spell book, knowing that she had seen a healing spell in it before while being forced to study it when her mother had hoped she would gain follow her family bloodline and become a witch. Since she had been in Auradon, Evie hadn’t felt a thing magic-wise, so she figured she took after whoever her father was (and that probably meant he was human). She leafed through the pages until she found the one she was looking for. 

“Try this.” She handed the book to Uma. 

Uma placed one hand on the shell and the other on Evie’s back. She passionately recited the spell, and Evie felt the magic course through her. When she finished, Uma looked at her face, then at her back. 

“It worked.” She said in disbelief. 

Evie smiled at her, seeing the pride on the young sea witch’s face. “You did it. Thank you for helping me.” She took the book back, stashing it back in the closet. “Now, I think you two have some catching up to do while I get myself together.” 

Uma turned towards Ellie, who was still sitting on the couch in the spot Evie had left her, a toy dragon in her mouth. Evie watched with a smile as Uma kneeled down. 

“Hello, little one. Do you remember me?” 

Evie heard Ellie squeal as she reached her arms out towards the woman who had cared for her for two months. It was obvious that Ellie remembered her and she happily allowed Uma to pick her up. Evie knew her baby was in good hands, so she went into the bathroom to fix herself up. 

Time passed quickly and before they knew it, Tourney practice was over. It didn’t take long for Mal and the boys to burst into the room, all of their gazes settling onto Evie and Uma, who were sitting on the floor and playing with Ellie. 

Mal immediately walked over to where they were, dropping her equipment on the floor and sitting on Evie’s other side. Evie turned to look at her, offering her a smile. 

“How was practice?”

“Good. I was the fastest, as usual, and scored more points than Jay.” 

“Yeah, because you cheated.” Jay threw in from across the room. 

“How did I cheat?”

“Because there’s no way you scored more points than me without you cheating.” Carlos rolled his eyes at their banter, obviously having heard this conversation before. He picked up his Tourney stuff and turned towards the girls.

“I’m going to go drop all this stuff off and shower and change.” Carlos informed them. 

“I’ll go with you.” Jay offered immediately after. Evie did her best to hide her knowing smile, and it took everything in her not to make eye contact with Mal. The two boys exited to go to their own dorm room. 

“I should go too. Gotta make sure Harry isn’t getting into any trouble.” Uma touched Ellie’s tiny hand, smiling at her little giggle she gave in response. “If you want, I can stay with you tomorrow during their practice too.” 

Evie nodded. “Yes, please.” 

“Do you want me to meet you at school or back here?”

“I have sewing club tomorrow, so I’ll walk back here with Jay.”

“Cool.” Uma stood. “See you tomorrow.” She nodded towards Mal, who nodded back in response, then walked herself out. 

Before Evie even had a second to move, Mal surged forward and pressed a kiss against her lips. She wrapped both arms around her and pulled her into a tight embrace. 

“God, I’ve been waiting to do that all day.” Mal pressed little kisses against her cheeks and the bridge of her nose. “How are you?”

“I’m okay.” Evie said, though if she really paid attention, she could still feel the uncomfortable bubbling in her stomach and the ache in her chest from her panic attack. “I missed you.”

“I missed you too.” Mal stroked her hair out of her face, and Evie silently thanked Uma for healing her bruises. She knew that there was no way her hair could have covered the one on her head with Mal’s obsession with moving her hair away so she could see her whole face. “Did you feed Ellie or give her any milk?”

“I gave her a snack, but I didn’t want to feed her in front of Uma.” That was only half the truth; Evie had run out of time after trying to fix herself up to her usual perfection. 

“Do you need to pump?” Mal asked, gently placing her hand on Evie’s chest. The blue haired girl did feel a little uncomfortable, so she nodded. “Why don’t you do that and I’ll watch the little princess?” 

“Okay.” Evie gave her another kiss, then stood to go get the breast pump. Normally, she liked to sit away from Ellie when she pumped because she had a tendency to get in the way or try to latch on. Evie had waited too long to give her milk, and she knew if she fed her now, she wouldn’t eat her dinner and she needed those calories just as much as she needed her milk. But right now, she felt uncomfortable and wanted to be near Mal, so she grabbed the pump and came over to sit next to her. 

“You can go relax, baby girl. I’ve got this.”

“It’s okay. I want to stay with you guys.” Evie smiled at her reassuringly. Luckily, Mal didn’t question her on it. 

The rest of the night was the same. Evie did her best to stay close to Mal without letting on to the fact that she wanted to be close to her. If she was too obvious, Mal would know something was wrong. But at the same time, Evie needed her presence to help her get through the day. 

The four of them had dinner together, and Evie only managed to eat about half of her meal. She was disappointed in herself, but her stomach was hurting and she knew she couldn’t force herself to eat anymore. Mal had kissed her and whispered how proud she was of her, and Evie had to remind herself that it had been a hard day (even before her encounter with Quinton) and she was allowed to give herself a little grace. 

After dinner, the four of them played with Ellie on the floor. She was so close to crawling and they started to make bets on when she would finally meet that milestone. Then, Evie fed Ellie and put her to sleep. Afterwards, the teenagers completed their homework for the day and the girls shared what they had learned with the boys so they would be caught up for tomorrow. 

Evie asked Mal to take a shower with her and once they were under the warm water, Evie finally was able to relax. She sank into Mal’s arms, resting her head on her shoulder and allowing her girlfriend to hold her. Mal just stroked her hair and sprinkled her face, neck, and shoulders with gentle kisses. When she started to kiss lower and lower, Evie didn’t protest, allowing herself to give in and feel some pleasure. 

By the time they finished their shower, the water had turned cold. The two girls went into the bedroom and Evie was surprised there were no comments from Jay on how loud they were or how long they had taken. She changed into her pajamas then climbed into bed, Mal joining her a moment later. 

“I love you, Pretty Girl.” Mal whispered as she laid behind her, wrapping an arm around her waist and spooning her. She kissed the back of her neck. 

“Love you too, my love.” Evie grabbed the arm Mal had around her waist, bringing her hand up so she could kiss it. Then, she snuggled back into Mal’s embrace, hoping that it would be enough to keep her from having any nightmares.

\-----

Evie woke up before the sun came up, her breathing rapid from her nightmare. Luckily, she had gotten up before things could get too intense, and she was glad to see that she had been quiet enough that she didn’t wake Mal. She glanced at the clock and saw that it was a little after five in the morning. 

She laid there, Mal’s arms still wrapped around her, and stared into the darkness. Time passed quickly and before she knew it, the boys’ alarm was going off. She closed her eyes, not wanting anyone to know that she had woken up so early or that she had had a nightmare. 

She heard Jay and Carlos’s hushed whispers and wondered when they were going to finally tell her and Mal that they were together. Were they even together? Evie had known that Carlos liked boys for years now, and she knew that Jay had been with both girls and guys. They had always spent a lot of time together, mostly because Evie and Mal often went off and did their own thing, but as far as she knew, things had been platonic. 

The boys started to move around the room and get ready. It didn’t take long before Ellie woke up, and Evie pretended as if the sound had woken her. She got up to get her daughter and changed her diaper, then went over to sit on the couch and feed her. It was so rare that Mal slept in later than everyone else and her girlfriend deserved a little extra rest. 

Ellie ate for a while then fell asleep. Evie wasn’t ready to put her down yet, so she just readjusted her position, lifting her daughter to lay on her bare chest. 

Carlos came over, leaning over the back of the couch so he could speak quietly to her. “Why don’t you go lay back down for a little bit?”

“No, I’m okay.” Evie smiled at him. She reached up, running a hand through his curls. In the three months since they had come to Auradon, she had noticed Carlos was changing. His face was filling out from all the nutrients he had been getting, and he had hit a growth spurt, making him as tall as her. He was still the kind, sweet boy she had always known, but there was no denying that he was growing up. “C, are you happy?” 

Carlos looked confused for a second. “Am I happy?”

“Mmhmm. Do you like being in Auradon?” 

“Yes.” He answered with no hesitation. “There was nothing that I liked about the Isle. I hope that none of us ever have to go back there.” 

“Me too.” She studied him. “You look so much older all of a sudden. Your baby face is going away.” 

“I could say the same for you.” Carlos grinned at her. “I don’t know if you want to hear this or not, but you look so healthy, Princess. You don’t look like you’re going to break if someone pushes you too hard, and you’re so strong. I’m so proud of you for everything you’ve worked through since we left the Isle.” 

Evie had to bite her tongue to keep her eyes from filling with tears. He had no idea how much she needed to hear those words. “I love you.” 

“Love you too.” He leaned down and kissed her forehead. “Do you want me to turn on the TV for you?”

“Sure.” Evie agreed. He chose some TV show about wedding dresses, and it interested Evie almost immediately. When it was time for the boys to leave, they both gave her a kiss on the cheek and then exited the room with promises to bring back breakfast. 

Not too long after they left, Mal woke up. Evie saw her sit up out of the corner of her eye. Her girlfriend reached out on the bed, then looked around the room, obviously searching for her. When they made eye contact, she calmed down. 

Mal slid out of bed and walked over to the couch. She crawled onto the furniture and moved between Evie’s legs, laying her head down on Evie’s still bare stomach and wrapping her arms around her waist. Evie kept her left hand on Ellie’s back to keep her from rolling off of her chest and moved her right hand down to run through Mal’s hair. Mal pressed an appreciative kiss against her stomach, then laid her head back down. They just laid there in silence, both of their eyes on the TV.

“Good morning.” Mal said once the show went to commercial, lifting her head so she could see her.

“Morning.” Evie smiled at her. “Did you sleep okay?”

“Mmhmm, thank you for letting me sleep in.” she studied her face. “Are you cold? Do you want a shirt, or a blanket?” 

“A blanket would be nice.” Evie admitted. Mal moved to grab one of the throw blankets Evie had made. The blue haired girl scooted up, leaving room for Mal to lay down. Once she was comfortable, Evie passed Ellie to her and helped Mal get her settled on her chest, then laid on the other side of her chest. Mal wrapped an arm around each of her girls, making sure they were all covered with the blanket. Evie couldn’t see the TV anymore because she was facing the opposite way, but she would rather cuddle with her girlfriend anyway. 

Mal dropped a kiss on her forehead every couple minutes, the arm around her back keeping her pressed into her warm body. Evie was almost asleep when she heard the door open. 

“We have breakfast.” Jay’s voice announced. He walked over, setting the bag on the table in front of them. “Do you want us to eat lunch here or just drop it off?”

“Whatever you want to do.” Mal answered. Evie sighed contently when her fingers absentmindedly stroked through her hair, causing Mal to do it again. 

“Okay. I’ll come back here after school and walk with you to sewing club, E. I hope you guys are able to relax today and get some rest.” 

“Thanks, Jay.” Evie said, though her eyes stayed closed and her face was still buried in Mal’s chest. 

“See you guys later.” A moment later, he left the room. 

Mal didn’t make a move to grab breakfast, and Evie wasn’t in any kind of rush either. She knew she was drifting in and out of sleep for a little while, and then Ellie woke up, causing both girls to sit up and acknowledge that it was time to start their day. 

The three of them had breakfast together, Evie focusing on her own food while Mal multitasked and ate her own breakfast while also feeding Ellie’s to her. They went through their usual routine- play time, homework, lunch, before nap feed, naptime for Ellie which then led to Evie and Mal deciding to take a nap, then sewing and sketching, and finally Evie getting dressed and ready for sewing club. She had done her best to stay close to Mal and as far as she knew, Mal didn’t seem to think anything was wrong. 

All day, thoughts about Quinton had popped into her head. She still didn’t know how he had found her yesterday and it made her nervous. There was no way he just coincidentally ran into her, so either he had been following her or someone told him where she would be. Yesterday when the others were at Tourney, Uma had told her that she and Harry had been keeping an eye on Q, and from what they could tell, the Auradon kids had been avoiding him like the plague. Evie hoped that would continue to work in their favor. 

She was so sick of being trapped. She missed going to school (almost) every day, being able to eat meals in the cafeteria, taking Ellie out of the room, watching Tourney practice, and walking around without looking over her shoulder. She couldn’t wait until Quinton was out of her life for good and she could be happy again.

“Hey baby?” Mal called out, interrupted her thoughts. She turned to look at her. “Come here.” 

Evie was confused, but set down the shirt she had intended on wearing and walked over to her girlfriend. Mal was sitting on the edge of the bed and she reached out for her, wrapping her arms around her waist. 

“Are you okay?” she asked. 

She couldn’t tell her yes because she obviously wasn’t, and no one expected her to be with Quinton so close. But she couldn’t say no without worrying her. “As good as I can be.” Evie settled on. 

“You’ve been so quiet today.” 

“I’m just tired.” She admitted, which was the truth. 

Mal reached up, cupping her cheeks and pulling her down so she could give her a kiss. “I know.” She rested their foreheads together. “It’s not that much longer.” 

It wasn’t long before Jay and Carlos came back to the room. Jay stayed near the doorway, looking at his friend. “You ready, E?” 

All of a sudden, Evie felt sick to her stomach. Her hands started to sweat and she couldn’t possibly imagine leaving the room. She knew she was safe here. She didn’t want to risk running into Quinton again. 

“I think I’m going to skip it today.” Evie said, more to Mal than to Jay. 

“But you’re already dressed and ready. You might as well go.” Mal told her. 

Evie shook her head. “I really don’t want to.” 

“What’s going on?” 

She knew she needed an excuse. At this rate, Mal was going to figure her out. Her girlfriend knew her so well that this could go two ways- either Mal would realize something had happened, or she would get extra protective and refuse to let her leave her sight. Honestly, the second option didn’t sound too bad right now. 

“I just need a little break.” Evie said. “I want to stay with you until you go to Tourney.” 

Mal stared at her for a long couple of seconds. Evie made sure to keep her pout and puppy dog eyes going until Mal finally sighed. “Okay.” She kissed her forehead. “Why don’t you rest and I’ll take care of Ellie until practice?” 

Evie nodded, sliding her shoes off. “Okay.” She crawled under the blankets on their bed, relaxing into their pillows. She was safe here. Mal and Carlos wouldn’t let anything happen. 

“See you guys at Tourney then.” Jay said, leaving the room to go to his therapy appointment.

Evie didn’t sleep, but she did lay in bed, focusing on her breathing. She didn’t want to freak out again, so she practiced inhaling and exhaling, forcing her lungs to expand to their full capacity. Mal stayed on the floor with Ellie, but her gaze kept drifting over to Evie. 

“Time to go, Mal.” Carlos stated after a while. Evie knew it must be time for Tourney. 

“You go ahead. I’m going to stay here.” 

Evie sat up in bed, letting the blankets slide down to her waist. “Mal, no.” 

“You’re allowed to skip things but I’m not?” Mal challenged, raising an eyebrow. “You’re obviously not feeling great right now, so I’m staying with you.” 

“I’m okay. You need to go. You have a game on Saturday.” 

“I don’t care about Tourney. I care about you.” 

Before Evie could argue back, someone knocked on the door. Carlos went over to open it and they were all surprised to see Audrey, especially considering that Uma was the one who was supposed to stay with Evie today. Carlos stepped aside to let her in, then shut the door.

“You weren’t in sewing club today, so I wanted to make sure you’re okay.” Audrey told her. “Also, I brought your homework for Fashion class. I can walk you through what we did today, if you want.” 

“See, M? I’m fine. Uma will be here soon, and Audrey can hang out for a while.” Evie didn’t want her issues to ruin how much Mal enjoyed Tourney. “I promise I’m good.” 

Mal sighed, standing up with Ellie in her arms. “Fine.” She brought the baby over to Evie, giving her a kiss. She went into the closet and grabbed her bag and Tourney gear. “If you…”

“I’ll call if I need anything.” Evie interrupted before she could launch into a rant. “Go before you’re late.” 

Mal still looked reluctant, but she followed Carlos out of the room. Now that they were alone, Evie could feel Audrey’s gaze glued onto her. 

“So, where’s the homework?” Evie asked. 

“There isn’t any. I just wanted to make sure you were okay after yesterday.” 

“I’m fine.” Evie responded, shifting Ellie to sit on her lap. She reached out to the table next to the bed, grabbing one of her daughter’s toys and passing it to her to keep her occupied. 

“Evie, you had a full on panic attack in the bathroom and Uma pulled a knife on me. I think I need a little more of an explanation than you are fine.” 

A sudden knock on the door startled Evie. She instantly got out of bed, holding Ellie close to her. She reached into the drawer of the table next to the bed and pulled out a knife she had stashed there. 

“Where are you guys getting all these knives?” Audrey asked in confusion. Evie ignored her, pushing Ellie into her arms and then walking over to the door. 

She kept the knife behind her back and pulled the door open a crack. She felt relieved when she realized it was just Uma. 

“Did you make sure no one was following you?” Evie questioned, moving so she could come in. She shut the door quickly behind her. 

“Yep, and I made sure I took a different path than yesterday.” Uma’s eyes landed on the knife in her hand. “Oh, so you did take my advice?” 

“Seriously, why do you guys keep pulling out knives?” Audrey demanded. 

Uma looked surprised to see her standing there. “What is she doing here?” 

Evie just sighed, walking over and putting the knife back in the drawer. She reached out and took Ellie, kissing her cheek. She sat down on the edge of the bed and took some breaths, hoping that the other girls didn’t notice her shaky hands. 

“We missed you in sewing club today.” Audrey said after a few moments of silence. “We were talking about lace and Mrs. Andrews wants us to work on creating something with it. Maybe we could go shopping this weekend and pick some up and work on it together. We haven’t gone shopping together in a while.” 

Evie’s heart was still pounding. She couldn’t stop herself from snapping at the Auradon girl. “You don’t get it. You’re never going to get it because your life is so different than mine. I have a daughter, Audrey. A little girl who is depending on me to keep her safe even though there’s someone here who would give anything to hurt us!” she clamped her mouth shut, silently cursing herself for giving out way too much information. 

To Audrey’s credit, she didn’t get upset or yell back. She just sat down on the end of the other bed. “Is it that new VK, Quinton? I saw your reaction on the day they got here, but I never asked and Ben won’t tell me anything about you guys without your permission. Who is he?” 

Evie didn’t know how to answer that question. She didn’t want to talk about this, not with Ellie in the room, or with the two girls staring her down. It was a lot harder to pretend she was okay in front of them after they had seen her breakdown yesterday, but she was going to try her best. 

“Audrey, I don’t want to talk about it.” 

“We’re friends, Evie. Whether you like it or not, I’m here and I’m going to keep being here. I want to help you. I’ve done my best to support you and not ask too many questions, but I need to know why you are so upset.” 

Evie sighed in irritation. She got up and walked over to the living area, setting Ellie down on her blanket with all of her toys. She sat in the chair near her, while Audrey came over and sat on the couch. After hesitating for a moment, Uma sat on the arm of the couch on the opposite side from Audrey. 

“There’s a lot about my past that you don’t know.” Evie informed her. “I know that it’s confusing and it’s weird, but I can’t talk about it or I’ll get upset, and I really can’t do that right now or there’s no way I’ll be able to convince Mal that I’m okay. I’m going to give you the really basic description, and you can ask Ben for more details later because he heard all of this in the council meeting.” She bit down on her lip, not believing that she was really about to do this. “My mother used my body as a bargaining tool. She would sell me to men to earn beauty supplies, clothes, shoes, anything she could get her hands on, or just to punish me for not being good enough. She absolutely hated Mal and she hated that I liked a girl instead of a prince, so she would give me away to try and teach me a lesson. She permanently sold me to Quinton in exchange for whatever riches he could offer her since his mother is the Queen of Hearts and was royal enough that my mother thought it was acceptable. He is a brutal, horrible person and he is extremely dangerous.” 

Audrey had tears in her eyes, but Evie was surprised when instead of crying, she got angry. “Then how the fuck is he in Auradon?” 

“He sent one of my boys away and took his place.” Uma took over. “He was able to sneak in.” 

“No one can know.” Evie chimed back in, doing her best to keep her voice from wobbling. “Ben made a deal with Queen Elsa and in ten days, he is being shipped off to Auradon. But if he makes it a big deal and lets the council know that they accidentally brought a dangerous VK to Auradon, the VK Exchange Program will be shut down and all of the kids will be trapped on the Isle forever, and we can’t let that happen.” 

Audrey shook her head. “So we’re supposed to just hope that in the next ten days he doesn’t do anything?” 

Evie nodded. “Your boyfriend’s plan, not mine.” 

“I’m assuming that something happened with him yesterday that made you have a panic attack?” 

“He cornered me in the stairwell and pushed me around a little. Uma got him to go away.” 

“So why aren’t you telling Mal?” 

Evie sighed. “Because she wants to kill Quinton. Mal has hated him for years, even before my mother sold me to him. But after knowing what he did to me, she has been waiting for the perfect opportunity to get rid of him for good. Ben has already told us that if she kills him, there will be nothing he can do and they’ll have to send her to the Isle, which will still probably end up getting the VK Exchange Program shut down. But Mal doesn’t care and all she’s thinking about is protecting me. I love her for wanting to keep me safe, but there is a bigger picture here and we need to think about all of the innocent kids stuck on the Isle.”

“I have one question, but I don’t know if it’s going to be too much for you.” Audrey said. Evie motioned for her to continue. “Is he Ellie’s…” 

“No.” Evie interrupted, not wanting to hear the word ‘father’. As far as Evie was concerned, her daughter had no father and she never wanted to think about that. “Another man.” 

That seemed to be enough for Audrey, who just nodded in understanding. “Well, whatever plan you make to get rid of him, count me in.” 

Uma’s gaze was locked on Evie and the blue haired girl waited to see if she would offer any suggestions or ask any questions of her own, but she never did. The three of them were quiet as they all thought about the weight of Evie’s story.

A knock on the door pulled them out of their thoughts and Evie instantly went on high alert again. Before she could even get up, Uma moved quickly towards the door. She swung it open fast, pointing her knife at the person standing in the hallway. 

“Wow, that’s how you treat your first mate?” 

Evie relaxed at the sound of Harry’s voice, but Audrey still looked nervous. Uma let him in and shut the door. The black haired boy came over towards his sister, his eyes lighting up when he saw his niece. 

“There’s the little one.” 

At the sound of his voice, Ellie instantly looked around. When she saw him, she started to scoot around, attempting to move closer. Harry crossed the distance and scooped her up, giving her a kiss on the head. Ellie put her hands on his cheeks and squealed. 

“I missed you so much, Gabriella.” Harry smiled at her. “Look at how big you’ve gotten. Your mama must be taking good care of you.” 

Evie couldn’t help but smile at the sweet moment between her daughter and brother. She was so happy that Ellie recognized the two people who had taken care of her when Evie couldn’t. She hoped that once Quinton was gone, they could spend more time together and truly become part of Ellie’s family. One of her biggest desires was for Ellie to have everything she never did, and a family was a big part of that. 

“So, what are we talking about, girls?” Harry questioned, plopping down on the floor. Ellie excitedly reached out for her toys, holding them out towards Harry and obviously intending on showing him each one.

Evie knew she needed to think of a new subject because she definitely didn’t want to go back to the one they had been on. “Audrey, why is everything in the cafeteria decorated?” 

“Next Tuesday is Christmas.” The brunette answered. “Do you guys celebrate Christmas on the Isle?” 

“Not really.” Uma responded. “What is it?” 

Audrey launched into a big explanation about religion and the actual meaning of the holiday, then described what it had evolved into. Evie, Uma, and Harry listened in fascination, wanting to understand what had all of the Auradonian kids in such cheerful moods. 

“So you give presents to people that you care about, and receive presents from the people who care about you?” Evie summarized after she was done. 

“And little kids think it all comes from a fat man dressed in a red suit?” Harry added in confusion. 

Audrey laughed. “Yeah, basically. You pick out special things for the people you love, then wrap them up and put them under the Christmas tree, then everyone opens their gifts on Christmas day. People spend time with their families, and usually there are big dinners or holiday parties. Normally there is a huge Christmas ball in Auradon, but since Ben’s coronation is only five days after Christmas, they are just doing a ball for that instead this year.” 

“What did you get for Ben?” Evie asked curiously. She liked the idea of giving to those she loved. She was going to have to make a trip to the market at some point to get some new materials so she could make something for her little family. 

Audrey described the watch she had bought for her boyfriend, along with a couple new shirts and a pair of shoes. She also told them what she had picked out for her parents, and for Jane, Lonnie, and Doug. 

The more Audrey talked, the more Evie became convinced that they needed to celebrate Christmas too. It would be the perfect thing to get her mind off of Quinton.

Evie startled slightly when she heard the door open, then relaxed when she saw it was just Mal and the boys. They all seemed a little confused at the presence of three more people in their room, but they didn’t protest. 

Unsurprisingly, Mal immediately came to stand behind Evie. She could feel that the purple haired girl was tense, obviously a little on edge from seeing the pirates in her room. She kissed the top of her head, but didn’t say a word. 

Harry started to talk about how he didn’t think there was even a holiday and it just seemed like an Auradon thing to hang lights and decorations everywhere. That sent Audrey off on a tangent about how this year there weren’t nearly as many decorations as usual, causing the others to laugh. 

Evie could feel Mal’s eyes on her as she laughed and she turned to look at her. She smiled at the soft expression on Mal’s face. A moment later, Mal hugged her from behind. 

“I’ve missed that beautiful smile so much.” Mal whispered so only she would hear. “I don’t see it very much anymore.” 

Evie leaned into her. “I just want this to all be over. I want to feel safe again.” 

Mal kissed her neck. “Soon, baby.”

“Hey, if you guys want, Carlos and I can go grab dinner and we can all hang out in here tonight.” Jay offered. His eyes landed on Evie and Mal, obviously trying to make sure it was okay with them. Neither girl protested; Evie enjoyed the company, and she knew Mal just wanted to make her happy. 

“Sounds good to me.” Audrey agreed. 

“Us too.” Uma chimed in. “Harry can come with you to help carry stuff.” She nodded towards the blue eyed boy, who passed Ellie to her and then got up to go with them. 

That night, Evie had fun for the first time since Quinton came to Auradon. She laughed and talked with the group of teenagers, knowing that even if everything else sucked, they would have her back. 

She didn’t feel safe yet, but she felt very lucky to have so many people on her side.

\-----

“Oh my God!” Audrey said dramatically, her eyes following Quinton as she watched him walk around the gym. They had the same class and she had been keeping her eyes on him, waiting for the perfect opportunity to strike. 

“What?” another girl her age, Ali, questioned, obviously trying to see where she was looking. 

“That new VK, Quinton. He gives me the creeps.” Audrey shuddered, not even needing to pretend with what she now knew about the boy. 

“Really? I haven’t talked to him.” 

“I wouldn’t. I’ve seen him flirting with a couple girls, and he’s way too touchy. I heard that back on the Isle, he killed somebody.” 

Ali gasped. “What? Why would they bring him to Auradon?” 

“Because he’s still a kid who was imprisoned there for his parents’ mistakes instead of his own. I don’t know, but I just have this feeling that he’s going to do something here. I know that if he tries anything, Ben will have him sent back to the Isle right away.” 

Ali nodded, completely believing everything that Audrey was saying to her. “I’m glad you said something. I’m staying away from him.” 

“Yeah, hopefully everyone else finds out somehow. I would hate for someone so dangerous to hurt anyone in Auradon.” 

Ali’s eyes were wide as she nodded along with her words. “Yeah. I better go tell the girls.” She walked off, going to meet up with her group of friends. 

Audrey smiled, knowing that Ali was one of the biggest gossipers in the school. She watched her whisper to her friends, hearing them all begin to whisper about it, then break apart and walk around to other groups of kids in the gym.

Audrey knew that they couldn’t actually tell everyone what Quinton had done, but she could at least make up rumors about it so that all of the other AKs would stay away from him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Next chapter will be Christmas, and it's definitely the calm before the big, final storm. I'm so sad that this is coming to and end, but it will definitely be a nice weight lifted off my shoulders once it is finished! 
> 
> How do you feel about Evie and Mal's relationship? Do you feel as if things are balancing out and it's not as codependent anymore? I think this chapter is the first time we've seen Evie actually lie to Mal- what do you think the aftermath will be?
> 
> Thoughts on the Jaylos developments? How would you like to see them tell Evie and Mal about their relationship? 
> 
> How do you feel about the new Evie/Audrey/Uma alliance? That definitely wasn't in my original plan, but I've been reading so many stories where Evie is friends with Audrey or Uma, and where Audrey and Uma are dating, so that has had some influence on things lol. I do feel like it's harder to write Audrey though when Uma is around, so hopefully she still felt true to her character that has been developed in this story because writing it felt a little awkward. 
> 
> Feelings on the developments with Evie? In this chapter, we've seen some improvements with her eating disorder. She is also trying to be a lot stronger instead of letting Quinton have power over her, which is a big deal for her. What would you still like to see Evie work on/accomplish with her mental health and personal struggles? 
> 
> Obviously coronation is coming and something big will happen. Any guesses?


	45. Making Memories

_For the first time in what felt like forever, Evie was actually in a good mood. Being pregnant was kicking her ass, but she had made it to the halfway point and only had about four months left to go. Since entering the second trimester, her morning sickness had calmed down a little, and she wasn’t in as much pain. Mentally, she was still a mess and struggling to come to terms with the fact that pretty soon, she would be a mother to a baby she wasn’t even sure that she wanted._

_But for today, she was putting all of that aside. On the Isle, they didn’t really have a lot of things to celebrate. She had heard of random holidays and traditions in Auradon, but no one had the resources to replicate them, and honestly, no one was in the mood to try and pretend that the shitty world they lived in could be bearable. Evie knew that today was Christmas in Auradon, and though she couldn’t leave the hideout to get supplies to try and decorate, and though they didn’t have any food to spare to attempt to make a holiday feast, she at least wanted to be happy._

_Evie had woken up alone and when she wandered out to the living room, Carlos told her that Mal had left that morning before the sun was up to complete a job for Maleficent. That instantly put her on edge; every time Mal went to see Maleficent, they were risking the Mistress of Evil possibly figuring out that Mal was doing all she could to keep their territory safe because of Evie. The blue haired girl trusted her girlfriend to do whatever she needed to do to come back home safely, but she still worried._

_The morning passed by quickly, the gentle humming sound of Evie’s sewing machine filling the hideout. Carlos was reading through a few books, making notes in one of his notebooks. Evie hadn’t seen Jay yet today, so she figured Jafar had him running an errand. Carlos forced her into eating lunch and Evie did her best not to complain._

_Afternoon came and Carlos was able to convince Evie to lay down and take a nap. She was almost always tired, and she took the opportunity to rest. She didn’t want to be grumpy when Mal came home. Mal dealt with all of her moodiness and changes without a complaint, so the least Evie could do was try and be in a good mood for her, especially knowing she was probably going to be exhausted after running around for Maleficent all day._

_But when Evie woke up, it was still just her and Carlos. There had been plenty of times where Mal and Jay would disappear until night time, so there wasn’t anything to be concerned about yet, but Evie had a bad feeling._

_“It’s gonna be okay, Eves.” Carlos reassured her. “She just had a job to do.”_

_“I don’t know. I just feel like something is going to happen.” Evie felt the uncomfortable bubbly feeling in her stomach that she sometimes got._

_“Come on, you need to eat dinner.” Carlos stated, walking towards their food stash._

_“I don’t want to. I’m going to wait for Mal.”_

_“We don’t know when she’s coming home. You need to keep your strength up.” He gently touched her arm._

_“I said no!” Evie argued, pulling her arm away. She sighed, feeling guilty immediately. “I’m sorry, C.”_

_“It’s okay, I know you’re stressed.” He sat next to her and rubbed her back. “We can wait a little while, but you’re going to have to eat soon.”_

_Evie nodded, not wanting to fight anymore. “Okay.”_

_About an hour after sundown, they heard the sound of rapidly approaching footsteps. Carlos darted towards the window, peaking outside to figure out if someone had found their hideout._

_“It’s Jay.” He announced right before Evie heard a rock hit the sign._

_“Evie?” Jay called out, moving quickly up the stairs. His footsteps sounded different, almost heavier. Evie immediately realized why when he came into view. Mal was in his arms, unconscious and bleeding. Her eyes were closed and her arms hung limply._

_Evie scanned her eyes over her girlfriend, praying that this wasn’t happening. Maybe it was all just a dream. Maybe she was still napping._

_“What happened?” Carlos questioned, spreading a blanket out on the floor. Jay came over and laid Mal carefully on top of it._

_“Maleficent got into an argument with Lady Tremaine. She tried to send Mal to burn down Curl Up ‘N Dye, and Mal refused.” Jay looked anxious, his eyes wild and his hands covered in blood. Mal’s blood. “Evie?”_

_She snapped out of her daze when he called her name. Evie was still standing, practically frozen in place as she stared at Mal. She knew exactly what Jay wanted. Out of their crew, she knew the most about how to take care of injuries and what would need to be done. She came over, kneeling down next to Mal’s side._

_“Major injuries?” Evie questioned. She needed to block everything out right now. If she didn’t focus, she knew that there was a chance she could lose Mal. She refused to live in a world without the person she loved more than anything. Right now, her chest was moving, showing that she was still breathing, so Evie needed to get to work._

_“I know she was hit in the back of the head. I didn’t have time to look her over, I just picked her up and ran once it was over with.” Jay didn’t go into detail on the beating and Evie was grateful. Just like she didn’t tell the stories of the men who hurt her, Mal didn’t elaborate on how Maleficent caused each of her bumps and bruises._

_“Carlos, I need clean rags and some warm water. Jay, get me some alcohol, a pair of scissors, and some wrap.” Evie ordered. She stroked a hand over Mal’s bruised cheek gently. “Hey baby, it’s me. We’re going to fix you up, okay? You’re alright.”_

_Evie quickly tied her hair back so it wouldn’t get in the way. Jay came to her side with the materials she requested and she grabbed the scissors, using them to cut Mal’s shirt open. She removed the material and tossed it to the side, knowing they would clean it later and tear it up for rags or wrap._

_She pressed her hands against Mal’s sides, running them carefully over her ribs. It would be easier to find a broken rib if Mal was awake and could tell her where it hurt, but Evie could manage on her own. She saw some bruising on her left side, almost as if she had been kicked repeatedly, but it didn’t feel like a break._

_“Cut her pants off.” Evie directed, handing the scissors to Jay. Carlos came over with the rest of what she needed. She dipped a rag in water and used it to clean up Mal’s chest and stomach. There was a lot of bruising, but she didn’t see any stab wounds or protruding bones._

_Evie pulled her hair to the side and leaned down, pressing her ear against Mal’s chest. She grabbed her wrist in her hand and found her pulse. She shut her eyes, doing her best to listen for any wheezing or something that sounded irregular. She knew that a broken rib could puncture a lung or heart and cause breathing issues. Though her ears weren’t as accurate as a stethoscope, she figured she could recognize any differences in the heartbeat that lulled her to sleep every single night. She sighed in relief when she didn’t hear any noticeable differences._

_Evie intended on looking at Mal’s head next, but her shoulder caught her eye. She could tell that it was dislocated._

_“Fuck.” She mumbled, knowing that was going to hurt. “Carlos, help me sit her up.” Carlos moved Mal and Evie got into position, using all of her strength to push her girlfriend’s shoulder back into place. She felt sick to her stomach. “Okay, keep her up.”_

_With Carlos supporting Mal’s weight, she had better access to the back of her head. She could see where Mal had been hit with something, or slammed against the ground. Luckily, it didn’t look deep enough to need stitches, but she would bet anything that Mal had a concussion. Evie dumped some alcohol onto a rag and pressed it against the wound, knowing this would hurt Mal if she was awake, so it was better to do it now. She cleaned the wound, then pressed a wad of cloth against it, then used a piece of wrap to secure it there to hopefully stop the bleeding._

_Mal’s arms, wrists, and hands seemed to be intact, so Evie looked at her face next. She cleaned her face up and winced at the result. She had a busted lip, her nose was bruised, and she had a black eye. Evie couldn’t help but give her a gentle kiss._

_The last thing to check was Mal’s hips and legs. Because of Evie’s own personal history, she always hated this part. She felt horrible dread as she examined her girlfriend, hoping that she was never hurt in the same way that Evie was repeatedly hurt. She didn’t have any of the usual signs that Evie recognized in herself, like blood or bruising around her inner thighs, so she figured she was in the clear. She said a silent thank you and then ran her hands down Mal’s legs, feeling for any broken bones._

_“Nothing is broken.” Evie announced a moment later as she began to clean up the cuts on her legs. “She probably has a concussion, and maybe a fractured rib or two. It doesn’t seem like there is anything else going on, but we’ll know more once she wakes up.”_

_“Take some deep breaths, Princess.” Jay said softly. “You’re shaking.”_

_Evie realized that he was right. She sat down next to Mal’s head, resting her hands in her lap as she took a couple breaths. “If she doesn’t wake up…”_

_“She’s going to wake up.” Carlos and Jay interrupted in perfect unison._

_“I can’t do this by myself.” Evie admitted, feeling tears fill her eyes. “I won’t.”_

_“You’ll still have us.” Carlos reassured her. “Even if the worst did happen, which it won’t, you would always have me and Jay.”_

_“I don’t want to be here if I don’t have her.” Evie sniffled, bringing a hand up to wipe away the tear that had rolled down her cheek. She stared up at the ceiling. “This was supposed to be a happy day. It wasn’t supposed to be like this.”_

_Jay scoffed. “Yeah, Merry Christmas.”_

_“While Mal is resting, you need to eat.” Carlos said sternly._

_Evie shook her head. “If I eat, I’m going to throw up.”_

_“Think about what Mal would want you to do right now.”_

_“I can’t because all I can think about is Mal dying and me having to raise this fucking baby by myself!” Evie finally shouted. “You have no idea what’s going on in my head right now, Carlos, so you need to back the hell off.”_

_“Hey, let’s not do this.” Jay interrupted. “This isn’t helping the situation. Carlos, why don’t you go work on the radio you were building? We can wait with Mal.”_

_Carlos got up without protest and walked across the room, going to his work station. Evie felt the guilt settle in. Carlos always did his best to respect her and her boundaries, and she felt bad that she yelled at him._

_“C…” she started._

_“Don’t.” he told her, offering a small smile. “There’s nothing to apologize for. We’re good, Princess.”_

_Evie gave him a grateful smile, then turned back towards her girlfriend. She picked up one of her hands and pressed a kiss to the top of it, then held it to her chest. “Even though you pretend you don’t, I know you love some extra attention. I hate to say this, but your time is up, my love. You need to open those beautiful eyes and come back to me.” She reached her other hand out, stroking it over Mal’s cheek. “Please, M.”_

_Then, like a true Christmas miracle, Mal’s eyes fluttered open. Evie nearly cried when she saw the bright green eyes she loved so much. She bit down on her lip, trying not to cry._

_Out of all the things Mal could have done when she woke up, the last thing Evie expected was for her to smile. But there Mal was, laying on a faded, ripped blanket on the floor of their hideout, covered in bruises from the latest beating from her mother, with a soft smile on her face._

_“My girl is so pretty.” She announced, her eyes never leaving Evie’s._

_The blue haired girl couldn’t help it. She didn’t know if it was the hormones or just all of her anxieties spilling over, but a few tears slipped down her cheek. She laid down on the ground next to Mal, cradling her face carefully between her hands._

_“I love you.” Evie whimpered._

_“Love you too.” Mal attempted to move, but Evie noticed her wince._

_“Stay still.” She commanded. She scooted back a little so she could make eye contact. “I need you to tell me if you feel any broken bones.”_

_Evie watched as Mal took a moment, wiggling the different parts of her body. “My shoulder is sore.”_

_“It was dislocated. I popped it back in place.” Evie brushed a piece of hair out of her face. “Does it hurt anywhere else?”_

_“My head is pounding.”_

_Evie looked at her eyes. She had read that a person’s pupils could be affected if they had a concussion, but Mal’s looked normal. But given the injury on the back of her head, plus the headache, her skin looking paler than usual, and the fact she had been unconscious, signs were still pointing to a concussion._

_“You hurt the back of your head.” Evie informed her, not sure if she remembered what had happened or not. “You were unconscious for a little while, and I’m pretty sure you have a concussion. Can you take a deep breath for me?” Mal attempted to breath, then winced after a couple seconds. “What’s wrong?”_

_“My ribs hurt.” Mal admitted._

_“Tell me where.” Evie sat up, moving her hands across Mal’s ribs. As soon as she touched the bruised spot, Mal flinched._

_“Right there.”_

_Evie pressed harder, earning a strangled sound from Mal’s lips. She gave her an apologetic look, but kept feeling. Just like the first time, she didn’t think it felt broken._

_“I think it’s just a fracture, but we need to keep an eye on that. Can you sit up?” she put a hand behind Mal’s back, helping her into a sitting position. “Jay, will you grab an ice pack for Mal’s ribs please?” she looked at her girlfriend. “Take a couple breaths and tell me if you feel like you’re struggling.” Evie didn’t know what she would do if Mal was. Evie was usually the one with rib injuries, and she had been lucky enough to never have a broken rib puncture one of her organs._

_Mal took some breaths, then looked at her. “It doesn’t feel hard. It’s sore, but it doesn’t feel any different from other times I’ve had a fracture.”_

_Jay came over, passing her an ice pack. A second later, Carlos gave her a change of clothes for Mal without her even having to ask. “Thanks guys.” She took the supplies._

_Evie helped Mal into the shirt first, then set the ice pack on top of the fabric right over top of her ribs. She used some of the wrap to secure it in place, then pulled a sweatshirt over top of that to help keep Mal warm. Then, she helped her into a pair of sweatpants, then slipped socks onto her feet._

_“There, now you’re as good as new.” She pressed a kiss to Mal’s forehead to punctuate her sentence._

_“Come here.” Mal practically pleaded. Evie laid down next to her again, feeling Mal wrap an arm around her and pull her close. She wanted to hug her back, but she didn’t want to put any pressure on her sensitive ribs. Mal kissed her cheek. “Thank you for taking care of me, baby girl.”_

_“Always.” Evie promised, resting their foreheads together. She brought a hand up to cup her cheek. “I’m so happy you’re okay. You scared the shit out of me.”_

_“I’m sorry.” Mal whispered, not needing to talk any louder because of their close proximity. “Can I touch you?”_

_Evie knew exactly what Mal meant by that. While she had absolutely hated every single aspect of being pregnant, things had been different for Mal. She didn’t understand how her girlfriend was so willing to accept a baby that she had no responsibility to that had been conceived in such a horrible way, but Mal had no problem with making room in her heart for the little life growing in Evie’s body. While Evie did her best to avoid thinking about the fact she was pregnant, Mal would get this soft smile on her face every time her bump got a little bigger._

_“Mmhmm.” Evie gave in._

_Mal’s hand moved from Evie’s waist to her stomach. Evie was five months along, and because she was so tiny, she had started showing pretty early. There was a firm, round little bump protruding from her body. Mal loved to run her fingers over the expanded skin, and if Evie was being honest, she could admit that Mal’s fascination with her changing body had been the best part of being pregnant._

_“Please don’t ever do that again.” Evie whimpered, feeling the weight of the situation finally settling in. “You can’t leave me.”_

_“I won’t.”_

_“I can’t do this without you.”_

_“You don’t have to.” Mal barely had to move to close the space between them, connecting their lips. “No matter what happens, I will always fight to come back to you.” She rubbed her hand over her stomach again. “Both of you.”_

_Evie didn’t speak, instead just closing her eyes. Mal continued to rub her stomach, both of them thankful that they still had more time together._

\-----

After her conversation with Audrey, Uma, and Harry, Evie decided that she wanted to celebrate Christmas. People on the Isle had obviously heard about it before, but now that Evie knew the point of it, it sounded like something she was interested in. 

The problem was that by the time she had that revelation, there were only four days until Christmas. She knew that she was going to have to haul ass if she wanted to get presents for the people she cared about, plus plan out a big Christmas meal and decorate the room. 

Mal and the boys had been on board immediately. They thought about including Dizzy, but then they would need to include Celia, Uma, and Harry too, and Evie didn’t think Mal was ready for that. Her girlfriend had already taken a huge step by allowing Uma to stay alone with her during Tourney practice, so she didn’t want to push her any further.

The first task that needed to be completed was finding a Christmas tree. Evie went to the expert herself, and Audrey was more than happy to help. Apparently there was a thing called “online shopping” where they could use their phones to buy things with a credit card. Evie only had cash from the designs she had made, but it only took one phone call to Ben for Audrey to gain permission to use his credit card. Evie didn’t like the idea of using Ben’s money, but it was better than having to actually leave the dorm to go shopping and risk seeing Quinton, so she let it happen. They picked out a fake, miniature tree with pre-lit gold lights, along with blue, purple, and red ornaments. Because it was linked to the future king’s card, they received an email saying everything would arrive tomorrow.

Evie talked to Audrey about how she wanted to make something for Mal, Jay, and Carlos for their present. They look over her sketchbook and Evie pointed out the particular designs she had in mind. Then, Audrey surprised Evie with an early Christmas present. She had gone to the store and bought the materials Evie would need. The blue haired girl thanked her with a big hug, and a promise to make something for her free of charge. 

The Christmas dinner had been one of the harder things to plan. Evie was still doing well with her eating, but it was difficult to plan out a big meal. She went to Mal for help, and the two girls sat down together and created a list of items they would need. They knew they could probably just have it made and delivered to them if they asked Ben, but Evie wanted to try and cook it by herself. They made their list of items and gave it to Ben, who had it all ordered and delivered to the kitchen in their dorm building. 

Then, Evie had to start her designs. It was hard to get anything done with everyone constantly in the room, but she forced Jay to carry her sewing machine into the bathroom so she had a little privacy. She poured hours into bringing her designs to life, and luckily Mal didn’t mind entertaining their daughter so she had time to do it. 

One thing that was in the back of Evie’s mind was that as Christmas came closer, so did the coronation. She wasn’t sure how to feel about the upcoming event. On one hand, once Ben was king, she knew it would be easier to bring more children over from the Isle. But on the other, she was worried about Quinton being shipped off to Arendelle, and the aftermath of Maleficent realizing Mal didn’t steal the wand. It may be irrational, but she was terrified of Maleficent getting off the Isle and harming her girlfriend. 

Before they knew it, it was Christmas Eve. Mal, Evie, Jay, and Carlos were sitting around the living area watching a Christmas movie that had been playing on TV. Ellie was snuggled in Mal’s lap contently, almost dozing off, when they heard a knock on the door. 

“It’s Audrey!” they heard the princess call out, easing their worries almost instantly. 

Jay opened the door, revealing Audrey, Jane, Lonnie, and Doug. Each of them were holding a bag in their hands. 

“Merry Christmas!” Lonnie greeted, pushing past Jay to come into the room. He let everyone else in and then shut the door. 

“That’s tomorrow.” Carlos said in confusion. 

“Yeah, but we’ll be with our parents tomorrow and we wanted to be able to give Ellie some gifts.” Audrey explained. “Ben is on his way over too.” 

Jane spoke next, her nervous gaze turning to Evie. “Sorry we barged in.”

Evie couldn’t be mad even if she wanted to. It meant so much to her that the Auradon kids had thought of her little girl and wanted to help make her Christmas special. “It’s okay.” She reassured her with a smile. 

The teenagers all sat down on the floor in the living area near the little tree. Mal handed Ellie to Evie so she could hold her on her lap. Audrey passed her a perfectly wrapped box in bright pink paper. 

“Here, do mine first!” she insisted. 

Evie took the bow off the top and handed it to Ellie, who happily waved it around. She turned the box to find a place it was taped and carefully slid her finger underneath. She unwrapped the present piece by piece, then set the paper aside. 

“Look, Ellie! Let’s see what Audrey got for you.” She opened the lid on the box. Inside, there was a new frilly pink dress, a tiny black hat, a couple books, and a stuffed giraffe. “Thank you so much, Audrey. This dress is adorable!” 

“I made it.” Audrey announced proudly. “I had never really made anything before, but after seeing you do all of your designs, I wanted to try. It took me forever and it’s not perfect, but…”

“Yes it is.” Evie interrupted. “Seriously, thank you. Ellie, say, ‘thank you, Audrey’.” The nine month old babbled in response. 

Lonnie’s present was next. Evie passed it to Mal, who opened it just as carefully as she had. Inside her box was a smaller version of a soccer ball and a little doll that was obviously handmade. 

“My great grandmother made the doll.” Lonnie explained. “She says that they’re good luck, so she makes them for every new baby that she knows. I know she’s not big enough to play soccer yet, but when she is, I would love to teach her.” 

Evie smiled, grabbing the doll from Mal’s outstretched arm and handing it to Ellie. “Thank you, Lonnie. Tell her thank you, baby.” She instructed Ellie. She rewarded them with a smile, showing off her two little teeth on the bottom. 

Doug offered his present after Mal set Lonnie’s aside. It was a pack of blocks that had letters and numbers on the different sides. “I figured since you’re so smart, you’ll probably start her off early. Now she can build and count or name the letters at the same time.” 

Evie felt so proud when she heard his words. It meant a lot to her that he thought she was smart, and it meant even more that he thought she would start teaching her baby as early as possible. It made her feel like a good mother. 

“Thank you.” Evie looked him right in the eyes and smiled. “Seriously.” 

When Jane passed her present over, she blushed. Evie hated how uncomfortable she always seemed around them and she wished she could reassure her that they weren’t going to hurt her. Her box was the smallest of the four and when Evie opened it, she saw a tiny bracelet inside. It was gold and had a small rectangle with ‘Gabriella’ engraved into it. 

“I know you love clothes and fashion, and you always dress her so cute, so I thought a bracelet might go with some of her outfits.” Jane hurried to explain. “I didn’t know if you would want it to say ‘Gabriella’ or ‘Ellie’, so I just guessed. I can get it changed if…”

“Jane.” Evie interrupted her rambling. “This is perfect. Thank you.” She unclasped the chain and put it on Ellie’s wrist. It fit her pretty well, and she instantly started to touch it with her other hand. “You guys have no idea how much it means to me that you did this for Ellie. It was so hard to introduce her to you and I was nervous to hear your opinions, but you’ve all been so supportive.” 

“We’re your friends, Evie.” Audrey said, as if this whole thing was simple. “It’s kind of our job.” 

“Thank you.” Evie hugged each of the Auradon kids without thinking about it. After it was done, she mentally patted herself on the back for allowing them to touch her and not freaking out about it. 

Ben showed up a few minutes later and brought a couple boxes in with him. He was wearing a Santa hat and his smile was bigger than usual. “Merry Christmas!” 

Evie couldn’t deny that she still felt a little resentment towards the prince. She still had six days of dealing with Quinton because of his plan and it didn’t seem like he was understanding how hard all of this was on her. As soon as she thought it, Evie shook her head in an attempt to clear her thoughts. She refused to get upset right now. 

“All of that is for Ellie?” Mal asked in disbelief. 

“Two of them are, and then I got each of you something too.” 

“You didn’t have to do that.” Evie instantly said. 

“I did.” Ben set his boxes down on one of the beds, then passed them out to each VK. “Go ahead, open them.” 

Evie carefully unwrapped the paper, doing her best not to tear it. Ellie was sitting next to her now, her focus on the little doll Lonnie had brought. The box was long and rectangular and when she opened it, Evie was surprised to find yards and yards of blue material. She ran her fingers across it, nearly gasping at how soft it was. She had seen it in the store before, but it was one of the more expensive materials and she couldn’t afford to buy that for herself. 

“Ben…” 

“Don’t tell me I shouldn’t have bought it.” Ben said, coming over to sit across from her. “You deserve nice things too, Evie. Do you like it?” 

She nodded, picking the material up. She was even more surprised to see smaller bundles of purple, red, and yellow fabric beneath it. There were also bags full of zippers, rhinestones, and buttons. 

“Ben.” Her eyes filled with tears. She had never in her wildest dreams imagined that she would come to Auradon. But now, here she was, sitting in a dorm room with her daughter, girlfriend, and best friends, and a group of Auradon kids who had accepted them, including the future king who cared about her so much that he bought her a Christmas present. Evie didn’t have words to express how she was feeling, so instead, she leaned forward and wrapped her arms around Ben’s shoulders. “Thank you.” 

Ben’s arms moved to wrap around her back and he squeezed her carefully. Evie held onto him for a couple seconds, knowing that he knew a lot about her past and that he would understand that this was a big moment. 

After they separated, Evie looked to see what the others had gotten. Mal had a brand new set of paints, new brushes, and a few canvases, and she was doing a terrible job at hiding how excited she was. Evie knew her girlfriend struggled with expressing her emotions in front of anyone but her and the boys, so she was happy to see Mal finally let her guard down and smile. 

Carlos and Jay each received a couple new video games. Carlos also had a tablet, and Jay had gotten a new Tourney stick that he swore would help him score more points. 

Evie and Mal each picked up one of Ellie’s presents. They started to carefully unwrap them. 

“Rip into it!” Lonnie instructed. “That’s half the fun of opening a present!” 

But Evie couldn’t bring herself to do that. She would never forget how horrible the drop off after Christmas was, and how everyone would stand in the cold, digging through bags and bags of balled up wrapping paper in hopes that they could find food or some type of supplies. Mal seemed to understand and offered her a small smile.

Inside the boxes, they found bath toys, a new pair of boots, a pack of diapers, and a couple new outfits for Ellie. Ben admitted that Audrey and his mother had picked out most of it because he didn’t have a clue what she would need. 

Jay, Ben, and Lonnie went to the cafeteria to grab some dinner for everyone. Evie got up to change Ellie’s diaper, knowing without looking that Mal was following behind her. 

“Is this what you were thinking about when you decided you wanted to do Christmas?” Mal questioned, wrapping her arms around Evie from behind and resting her chin on her shoulder. 

Evie smiled. “This is even better.” 

It ended up being pizza night, so Jay brought back a couple large pizzas and soda for everyone to share. Evie knew it was going to be a struggle, but she didn’t want to make a big deal out of it and ruin the night. 

“You didn’t think I forgot you, did you, Princess?” Jay teased, passing her a separate bag. She opened it up, seeing that he had grabbed grilled chicken, asparagus, and carrots for her, along with a bottle of apple juice. 

“Thank you.” She smiled gratefully and sat on the couch next to Mal. When her girlfriend saw that she had her own food, she nodded in approval. Carlos volunteered to take Ellie and he fed her a jar of baby food.

Dinner was nice and conversation flowed easily. There was never a time where Evie felt uncomfortable or like she was struggling. She stayed cuddled into Mal’s side for most of the night, chiming in on whatever topic the others brought up. 

Jane was the first one to leave, followed shortly after by Doug, and then Lonnie. When Audrey and Ben stood, Evie got up too. 

“Ben?” she suddenly felt nervous. “I have something for you.” 

“Really?” Ben looked shocked. “You don’t have to give me anything.” 

“When Audrey explained to us that Christmas meant giving gifts to people you care about, I knew that I had to get something for you. The only reason we are even in Auradon is because of you. You have fought so hard for us, and you made sure that I was able to bring my daughter. I can never repay you for that, but I hope this shows you how grateful we are.” 

Evie went into the closet, grabbing the carefully wrapped box. She passed it to Ben, then stepped back, returning to Mal’s side while she waited for him to open it. 

Mal wrapped an arm around her waist and pressed a kiss to her temple. “You are the sweetest person I’ve ever met.” She whispered. 

Ben pulled out a brand new outfit that had been carefully designed by Evie. She had started planning it out shortly after she arrived in Auradon, and it had taken her a little while to get all of the materials. She had been working on it here and there, but after deciding to celebrate Christmas, she knew this was the perfect opportunity to finally finish it. 

Ben examined his new clothes with a huge smile. “You did this for me?” 

“Yes.” Evie said shyly. 

“This is amazing. No one has ever made something like this for me before.” He looked at her with bright eyes and a smile so genuine that it made her chest hurt. “Thank you, Evie.” 

“Okay, both _your_ girlfriend and _her_ girlfriend will kick your ass if you keep staring at her like that.” Audrey teased, causing Jay and Carlos to burst out laughing. 

“Swear jar!” Ben called out. 

Audrey raised an eyebrow. “Excuse me?” 

Jay grabbed the jar and came over, holding it out towards Audrey. “We give a dollar every time we cuss in front of Ellie.” 

Audrey dug into her pocket, shoving a dollar bill in the jar. “Well, it’s been fun hanging out with you guys. My parents are coming into town and staying until the coronation, so I probably won’t see you very much the next couple days. But if you need me, text me, okay?” she looked at Evie in particular after that statement. 

“Thanks.” Evie gave her a quick hug. “I promise I really will make you whatever you want. I’m sorry I didn’t have a gift ready.”

“It’s not a big deal at all, don’t stress about it.” She took Ben’s hand in her own. Ben said his goodbyes and then the couple left the room. 

“I can’t believe how generous they are.” Evie said, looking at their new items in disbelief. “We’re really lucky.” 

“Yeah we are.” Mal agreed. “It’s getting late, so we need to get Ellie to bed. Do you want to give her a bath tonight or wait until tomorrow?”

“We can wait.” Evie decided. “Let me get her changed into her pajamas and then I’ll feed her.” She held her arms out, taking her daughter from her girlfriend. 

“I’ll start putting all of this stuff away.” Mal said, going into the living area to start cleaning up their presents. 

Evie changed Ellie’s diaper and put a warm pair of pajamas on her. Then, she carried her cranky baby over to her bed. She sat down and pulled her shirt up, allowing her daughter to have her bedtime milk. 

A few minutes later, Mal got into bed next to her. Ellie was on her left breast, so Mal cuddled up to her on her right side, wrapping an arm around her waist and leaning her head on Evie’s shoulder. Evie put an arm around her too and gave her a kiss on the forehead. She closed her eyes and just focused on cuddling with her girls, silently hoping that tomorrow would be as great as today. 

\-----

When Mal woke up, she could tell that it was early. There was a little bit of light streaming in the window, which told her that it probably wouldn’t be long until Ellie woke up. The room was silent, but the glow of the mini Christmas tree Evie insisted on gave it a comforting feel. 

Mal glanced down at her girlfriend. As usual, Evie was cuddled against her chest, lips pouting and eyes closed. She was breathing deeply and seemed calm, which made Mal happy. She knew that Evie really wanted today to be a good day and that a nightmare would ruin things. She had noticed that Evie had been a little on edge the past few days (with good reason), but she was glad that things weren’t escalating to the point that she was having panic attacks or nightmares. 

As she laid there, Mal couldn’t help but think about Ben’s coronation. In just five days, he would be crowned King of Auradon. Her mother would be expecting her to steal the wand and open the barrier, letting the villains take control. From the moment they stepped foot in Auradon, Mal knew there was absolutely no way she was following through with her mother’s plan. She had always been afraid of being a disappointment and not living up to the huge reputation that proceeded her, but Mal had realized that wasn’t important. It was better for her to be able to live with her actions and sleep at night instead of constantly trying to impress someone who would never care about her. No matter what happened on the day of coronation, Mal would be choosing good. 

Mal heard movement in the room. She knew it wasn’t Evie, but she was trying to listen and see if it was one of the boys or Ellie. She heard someone get out of bed and instantly recognized Carlos’s footsteps. He went into the bathroom. 

When he came back up, Mal sat up, carefully shifting Evie onto the bed. She frowned for a second, but after Mal laid a kiss on her forehead, she smiled in her sleep and then settled down. 

“Merry Christmas.” Mal whispered to Carlos. 

He smiled. “Merry Christmas.” 

“Wanna help me make pancakes for everyone? I found a recipe I wanted to try and got all the ingredients.” 

“Sure.” 

They both threw on shoes and sweatshirts so they would be warm on their walk to the kitchen. Mal knew Ellie would be up soon, so she scooped her daughter up out of her crib and went over to their bed, laying her down next to Evie. She took her girlfriend’s arm and lifted it up, putting it over top of Ellie. Evie’s motherly intuition was strong, so Mal knew that if she was touching Ellie, she wouldn’t accidentally roll over her or something. 

Mal and Carlos walked to the kitchen in silence. Many of the students had gone home to be with their families, so their dorm building was relatively empty. They got to the kitchen and Mal flipped the light on. 

“Alright, here’s the recipe.” Mal pulled it up on her phone and set it on the counter. “We need to get the ingredients out.” 

“Got it.” Carlos went over and opened the fridge while Mal went to the pantry. “So what’s the plan for today?”

“I’m not totally sure. Evie was the one who really wanted to celebrate, so I figured we would let her take control. I think after breakfast, we’ll probably do presents. She wants to cook a big dinner meal, so we’ll see how that goes.” 

Carlos smirked. “It’s hard to imagine Evie wanting to make a feast.” 

“Especially when you know she’ll only eat probably two things she makes.” Mal added with a laugh. “But she’s doing it for us. She wants to have traditions and things for Ellie to look forward to.” 

“I think that’s awesome.” Carlos acknowledged. “We all had shitty childhoods. Ellie deserves everything we never had.” 

“Yep, and we’re all going to do our best to give it to her.” 

After about twenty minutes, the chocolate chip pancakes were done. Mal and Carlos carried up a plate full of pancakes, a bottle of syrup, and plates and silverware for everyone. Mal wasn’t sure if Evie would be interested in eating a pancake, so she had thought ahead and grabbed extra fruit and yogurt from the cafeteria yesterday so she would have that as an option. 

Mal and Carlos walked into the room quietly and set everything down on the living room table. Mal went over to her bed, seeing that Evie’s eyes were closed still, but her shirt was pulled up and Ellie was latched on. She laid down next to her and she must have jostled the bed because Evie’s eyes opened. 

“Good morning, baby.” Mal leaned forward to give her a soft kiss on her full, pouty lips. “Merry Christmas.” 

Evie immediately smiled, her eyes lighting up. “Merry Christmas, my love.” She pulled Mal closer, resting their foreheads together. 

“Carlos and I made breakfast for you guys.” 

“Thank you.” The sleepy smile still hadn’t left Evie’s face. “Can we just lay here for a minute?” 

“Whatever you want, Princess.” Mal stayed by Evie’s side, keeping their foreheads together. Her fingers stroked up and down Evie’s back, occasionally running through her hair, causing her to sigh contently. After a few minutes, Evie switched Ellie to her other breast, wincing slightly. Mal kissed her cheek and she relaxed again. 

“Are you going to let her sleep a little longer, or do you want to wake her up?” 

“She can sleep for a little bit while we eat breakfast. I don’t want her to be cranky if she doesn’t get enough sleep.” Evie reached up to stroke Mal’s cheek, then grabbed her chin gently and pulled her towards her so she could give her a kiss. “I love you.” 

“I love you more.” Mal kissed her again. “Come on, let’s eat before it gets cold.” 

They both sat up. Evie situated Ellie on the bed, pulling all of the blankets and pillows away from her to reduce the suffocation risks. While she did that, Mal looked over towards the couch, seeing Jay and Carlos sitting so close that their shoulders were brushing. They were whispering quietly. 

It was taking everything in her not to burst out and tell them she knew something was going on. The only thing keeping her from doing it was Carlos. She would never want to hurt the younger boy or put him in the middle of an awkward conversation. But she would absolutely love to tease Jay and make him uncomfortable the way he always did to her and Evie. 

The girls walked over to the living area together and plopped down on the floor. Mal noticed right away that Jay reached for the bottle of syrup, scooting his body away from Carlos’s as he grabbed it. She tried not to smirk. She felt Evie’s fingernails digging into her thigh and knew immediately that her girlfriend had picked up on the boys’ behavior too, and this was her warning not to do anything about it. Even though she wasn’t planning on it, Mal definitely wouldn’t be saying a word now. She wouldn’t ever ruin the day that Evie had worked so hard to plan.

“We have chocolate chip pancakes, or I grabbed yogurt and fruit for you if you would rather have that. What are you thinking, E?” Mal questioned. 

She was happy to see that there were no signs of discomfort or worry on Evie’s face. She wasn’t biting her lip, her legs were still, and her hands were laying flat on her lap with no skin pinched between them. “I think I’ll try one of your pancakes.” 

Mal was so proud of her. She knew that Evie didn’t particularly like thick, bread-like foods, and she couldn’t imagine that she would love the sticky sweet taste of syrup. But she was willing to try something new despite all of that. 

“You’re so fucking amazing.” Mal couldn’t help but tell her. She didn’t care if Jay made fun of her. She had already spent most of her life having to shy away from telling Evie how she truly felt unless they were in the privacy of their hideout. Now that they were in Auradon, she would shout how much she loved her girl off of the highest rooftop. 

Evie’s cheeks flushed red, and surprisingly, Jay’s mouth stayed shut. Mal served Evie one of the smaller pancakes and poured some syrup on top. She handed the plate off to her, then grabbed three pancakes for herself, piling the syrup on. 

Mal wanted to watch Evie’s expression as she tried the pancake for the first time, but she knew better. She knew that one of Evie’s biggest triggers was people watching her when she ate, so she would have to just be patient and wait to hear what she thought. 

Mal took a couple of bites of her own pancakes. After a couple minutes had passed, she glanced in Evie’s direction just in time to see her girlfriend smile as she chewed a bite of food. 

“What do you think?” Mal asked after she swallowed. 

“It’s good.” Evie said, picking up another already cut bite and putting it in her mouth. “Really sweet.” 

Mal smiled wide. “I’m glad you like it.” 

The four of them sat there together, eating and joking around like the teenagers they were. For once, it actually felt like things were normal. They were just a group of sixteen year olds hanging out. 

But then Ellie started to cry and Mal realized that her actual life was so much better. Sure, she could do without all the trauma and scars from the Isle, but she wouldn’t trade Evie, Ellie, Jay, and Carlos for the world. 

“I’ll grab her.” Jay offered, pushing himself up so he could go grab the nine month old. 

“I’ll start cleaning up.” Carlos collected his and Jay’s plates and took them to bathroom so he could rinse the syrup off. 

Now that Mal and Evie were alone, she leaned closer. “Seriously baby, I’m so proud of you. You’re fighting so hard to be healthy and you’ve been doing such a good job.” 

Evie smiled. “Thanks, M.” she pressed a kiss against Mal’s lips, both of them laughing when the syrup caused their lips to stick together for a moment. 

“You have syrup on your lips.” Mal whispered, using the opportunity to deepen their kiss. She slid her tongue along Evie’s, earning a sigh from the blue haired girl. 

“Alright, alright, I’ve given you a lot of space because it’s Christmas, but now you’re just being ridiculous.” Jay commented. 

The two girls separated, both of their breathing heavy. “Sorry.” Evie apologized quietly. Mal didn’t say a word; she definitely wasn’t sorry for kissing her gorgeous girlfriend in her own room. 

After Quinton was gone, it may be time for the boys to relocate to their actual room. 

“Merry Christmas, little princess!” Mal said cheerfully, reaching her arms out towards her daughter. Ellie had been cuddled against Jay’s chest, but as soon as she saw the purple haired girl reaching towards her, she started to whine and put her arms up. Mal swooped in and took her, kissing her cheeks until she started to giggle. “Look, Ellie! Santa Claus came!” 

“Are we really going to lie to her and tell her that a fat guy in a red suit snuck in and put presents under the tree?” Carlos asked with obvious reluctance. 

“Yep.” Mal answered. If that’s what the kids in Auradon believed, then so would Ellie. She never wanted her to go to grow up and school and feel different or like she didn’t belong, so they had agreed that they would follow Auradon’s customs on this one since Christmas was such a big deal. “What do you want to do first, Pretty Girl? Presents or feed Ellie?” 

“Let’s feed her first.” Evie decided after a moment. She went over and grabbed a jar of baby food and brought it back in. “I’ll do it.” 

Mal turned towards Evie with Ellie on her lap. As usual, Ellie was perfect and opened her mouth for each bite, and she didn’t even whine when Mal wiped the food off of her chin. It didn’t take long for Ellie to finish up, and then get her diaper changed. Once that was over with, all five of them sat on the floor of the living area. 

“Alright, what now?” Jay questioned. 

“We can pass out our presents one at a time.” Evie suggested. “Who wants to go first?”

“You should.” Mal told her. “This was all your idea.” 

“Okay.” Evie stood up and went over to the tree, collecting all of her presents. Unsurprisingly, they were all perfectly wrapped in rectangular boxes with dark blue paper that had sparkly white snowflakes on it. She passed one to Jay, one to Carlos, one to Mal, and then sat the last one on the floor for Ellie. 

Mal gave Ellie to Evie so that she could open her present. When she opened the box, she was surprised to see a brand new leather jacket. The current one Mal had was made by Evie when they were 14, and it was one of her most prized possessions. But when she pulled out the new one, she could see that it had definitely been upgraded. The leather was dyed a dark purple and it was way better quality than her old one. There was black fabric on the inside, and when Mal turned it over, she saw her dragon symbol was on the back of it. She turned it over and examined the front again, seeing a small crown design right over where her heart would be. 

“Evie.” Mal said in amazement. She couldn’t believe that her girlfriend was this talented. Everything she made was absolutely perfect. 

“Do you like it?” 

She looked up, seeing Evie biting her lip. Mal crawled over to her and gave her a kiss, breaking it when she heard Ellie start to giggle. 

“You’re so talented.” Mal praised, then pressed a kiss against her forehead. She held the jacket on her lap looked over at the boys, seeing that Evie had made them leather jackets too. Carlos’s was half black, half white and had his bones symbol on the back, while Jay’s was a dark red and had his snake symbol.

“These are sick, E!” Jay exclaimed. 

“Yeah, they’re awesome.” Carlos added with a grin. “Did you make one for yourself too?” 

Evie smiled wide, nodding her head. She jumped up and ran over to the closet, returning a moment later. Her jacket was Evie blue, of course, and had her crown symbol on the back. Mal’s eyes immediately went to the front where she saw her dragon symbol stamped right over where Evie’s heart would be. 

“The details are amazing.” Mal said, reaching out and touching the dragon. 

Evie beamed. “I thought you would appreciate it.” She held Ellie’s box out to her. “You can open this one.” 

Mal unwrapped Ellie’s present and even she couldn’t help but smile when she saw the mini leather jacket. It looked a little too big for her to wear it right now, but it was adorable. It was a beautiful indigo color and when Mal turned it over, she saw a large red heart. On the front where her actual heart would be, there was a combination of the dragon and crown symbols. 

“I didn’t want to give her one of our symbols, and I hope when she gets older, she’ll choose her own, so I just gave her a heart for now.” Evie explained, rushing through her words like she tended to do when she was excited. “Do you like the color? It was the closest I could find to a mix of purple and blue. I didn’t know if I should just do one color, or a completely different color, or…” 

Mal connected their lips, ending her rambles. She brought her hands up to cup her girlfriend’s face, stroking her thumbs over her skin. They separated after a couple seconds and Mal rested their foreheads together. 

“Thank you, Evie.” She said her name softly, feeling her shiver underneath her touch. 

“Mmhmm.” She hummed, the smile never leaving her face. 

“My turn!” Jay announced, interrupting their moments. He went to collect his presents, which were wrapped messily in red plaid paper. He passed them out to each person. 

Mal opened the box, smiling when she found new sketch pencils and a brand new sketchbook. She had expected something that Jay had stolen, but she could tell that these had been store bought. She looked over at Evie, seeing that her girlfriend was holding a pair of blue boots. 

“Jay!” she squealed happily. “These are so cute! You even got my size right!” 

“Of course I did, Princess.” He said cockily. “I know you pretty well.” 

Carlos snorted. “More like _I_ know you pretty well.” 

“Alright, you can’t let me just take the credit for once?” Jay questioned, making Carlos laugh. 

The curly haired boy had the biggest box of all. When he opened it up, he gasped. Mal couldn’t tell what it was. 

“Oh my God.” Evie whispered in awe. 

“What is it?” Mal asked her. 

“A telescope.” She turned to look at her. “It helps you see stars and planets.” 

Carlos was shaking his head. “Jay, this is too much.” 

“No. You deserve it.” Jay told him with zero hesitation. 

“How did you afford this?” 

“I’ve been helping coach with cleaning up the Tourney field during my gym class for a little extra cash.” He said with a casual shrug. “I wanted to get you guys something nice.” 

“Thank you, Jay.” Evie smiled at him. “You did good.” 

He grinned. “Wait until you see Ellie’s.” 

This time, Evie opened their daughter’s present. She reached inside and pulled it out, immediately causing her, Mal, and Carlos to bust out laughing. 

Jay had somehow managed to buy Ellie a miniature version of his Tourney jersey. 

“How did you get this?” Evie wondered. 

“Turns out there’s a store where they sell jerseys for all the teams, but they don’t have names or numbers on them. I had Audrey sew my number and name on the back.”   
Evie flipped it over and they saw the words “Uncle Jay” sewn into the top. It made Mal’s heart skip a beat, as if this solidified the fact that they really were a family. 

“Thanks Jay.” Mal said after a moment. “No promises your jersey will ever see the light of day since Ellie’s favorite player is me, but the sentiment is nice.” 

“Yeah, I’m with Mal on this one.” Carlos agreed. “Ellie is never wearing that in public. We wouldn’t want her to be associated with your name.” 

Evie scoffed. “If you both don’t stop, I’m putting it on her right now.” Mal fake gasped, trying to reach out and steal Ellie back, but Evie tilted to the side to get away from her, making Ellie giggle. “Jay, she’ll wear it to one of your games. Promise.” 

Jay grinned, putting an arm around Evie’s shoulders and pulling her into him so he could kiss her forehead. “See? This is why she’s everyone’s favorite.”

“I guess I’ll go next.” Carlos offered. His black and white striped boxes were passed out. They were wrapped neater than Jay’s, but nowhere near Evie’s level of perfection. 

When Mal opened hers, she had to bite down on her tongue to keep her eyes from tearing up. It was a black frame and inside it there was the picture of Evie and Ellie both in Tourney jerseys modeled after Mal’s. In this particular picture, Ellie was cuddled against Evie’s chest, both of them smiling brightly. She still remembered how proud she had felt as she snapped that photo, wanting nothing more than to have that memory of her girls forever. 

Mal looked over to see what Evie got and she actually was crying. She had a black frame too, but the picture was different. It was from their very first Tourney game. Mal had been nervous and Evie was whispering reassurances to her. Evie’s arms were around Mal’s neck, and Mal’s arms were around Evie’s waist, her lips pressed to the blue haired girl’s forehead. Their eyes were both closed, but the looks on their faces showed their love so obviously that it took Mal’s breath away.

“Carlos.” Evie whimpered. She put Ellie down and crawled over to him, practically throwing herself onto his lap. 

“I’m sorry, I know it’s not something big, like jewelry or materials or…” 

“It’s perfect.” She hugged him tightly. “I love it.” 

“Mine is great too.” Mal agreed. 

Carlos was blushing, and when he looked towards Jay, his face got even redder. Mal watched as the dark haired boy pulled a gold chain out of his box. It had a few red rubies on it too, and definitely looked like something Jay would wear. 

“This is cool, C!” Jay said, his voice soft. “Will you put it on?” 

Carlos unclasped the chain, then secured it around Jay’s neck. Mal turned her head slightly to see Evie’s reaction to this moment, and she wasn’t surprised to find her girlfriend biting her lip to try and hide the huge smile on her face. 

Mal opened Ellie’s present this time and found that it was full of books. She couldn’t believe how many different kinds of books there were, and how many topics the books covered. 

“Look, Ellie! Your Uncle Carlos wants you to be a genius like him.” Evie told her, pulling a book out of the box and handing it to the baby. “Thank you so much! You did so good with everyone’s presents.” 

“You’re welcome.” Carlos awkwardly scratched the back of his neck; he had never been good at receiving compliments. “Your turn, Mal.” 

Mal went over and collected the last group of presents. Her wrapping paper was just plain purple, until she spray painted green splatters over it. Her presents were wrapped nearly as badly as Jay’s, but at this point, it didn’t seem like anyone really cared about that. She gave each present out and then sat down with Ellie on her lap, waiting to see their reactions. 

Jay was first, and he immediately whooped when he saw that Mal had gifted him a new knife. She knew that Evie and Carlos probably wouldn’t be happy about it, but when she saw it at the store, she knew she had to get it (or more like ask Ben to get it for her since the store clerk said she was too young). The handle was red and it had a black snake design twisting around it. 

“Seriously?” Evie questioned, raising an eyebrow. 

“Baby, it’s Christmas. Let’s just let him enjoy this.” 

Evie sighed. “You better make sure that’s out of our baby’s reach at all times.” 

“It will be.” Mal swore. 

Carlos opened his gift next. Mal had struggled with thinking of a present for him, and it had actually been Ben who helped (again). He had told her that he was getting a tablet for Carlos, so she picked out a new case for it and a bag that he could carry it in. She had gotten paints and quickly sketched out a drawing of the four of them and Ellie, then painted it onto the case to make it more personal. It had taken forever, but it was worth it when she saw Carlos’s eyes light up. 

“This is awesome, Mal!” 

“It’s not much, but…”

Carlos laughed. “You’re almost as bad as me when it comes to giving out gifts.” Mal laughed too because he was right; they were both so awkward when attention was on them.

The last present was the most important, but also the one Mal was most confident about. She knew Evie better than anyone, so it wasn’t too hard to find a present that she knew she would like. 

Evie had just opened the lid on her box when Mal turned towards her. Her bottom lip started to quiver and her eyes tears up. “M.” she whispered. 

“Hey, don’t cry.” Mal reached out, wiping the few tears that had fallen off of her cheek. “It’s okay.” 

Evie picked up the item inside, holding it up so everyone could see. It was a brand new tiara adorned with blue sapphires. It shimmered in the light that snuck in through the window. 

“It’s so beautiful.” Evie stated, running her fingers across it in disbelief. 

“I don’t care what anyone has to say. As far as I’m concerned, you are a fucking princess and you will always be treated like one.” Mal declared. She took the tiara from Evie’s hand and set it on top of her head. “Did you see what else is in there?” 

“There’s more?” Evie sounded surprised. Inside the box, there was a bracelet. It was a silver chain with a heart hanging off of it, and engraved in the heart was _“E+M”_. On the other side, in cursive writing, it said _“You are everything”_. 

“Just in case you ever forget.” Mal told her, then gave her a kiss on the cheek. 

At that, Evie really did cry. “I love you.” She whimpered as she gave her a hug, burying her face in her neck. Mal scooted Ellie off of her lap and onto the carpet, letting her play with the wrapping paper so she could give Evie the hug she deserved. She closed her eyes and buried her face in blue hair. 

“Guys?” Jay said after a moment. 

Mal ignored him, not wanting to deal with his comments. He didn’t understand how important it was to Mal that Evie had a reminder with her every single day that she was special and loved and beautiful and intelligent and…

“Guys!” Jay said a little more urgently. “Look!” 

Mal pulled back from Evie, both of them turning to stare at the thief. Instead, they saw their daughter had managed to pull herself up to her hands and knees for the first time. 

“Oh my God.” Evie whispered, covering her mouth in shock. 

Ellie moved one tiny hand, then her leg, then her other hand, and then her leg. Mal couldn’t believe she was actually doing it. The nine month old crawled across the floor until she could reach the bright red bow sitting on top of one of Carlos’s boxes. She ripped it off the box and plopped down on her butt, shaking the bow around in her tiny fist. 

“She did it!” Mal exclaimed. “She crawled!” 

“My baby.” Evie said through her tears. “My hands are shaking.”

Mal put an arm around her waist and pulled her closer, giving her a kiss on the temple. She reached over to grab a bow off of one of Evie’s presents. “Ellie, look at this! It’s a blue bow.” 

Ellie turned at the sound of her name. When she saw the bow her mom was offering, she pushed herself up to her hands and knees again. Evie grabbed her phone off the table and managed to record her this time. Ellie crawled back over to Mal, taking the blue bow instead. 

“I guess that’s her Christmas present to us.” Jay joked. 

“Yeah, until she’s crawling around the room and getting into everything.” Mal responded. “Good thing we baby proofed.” 

“That knife really better be put away.” Evie warned as she picked Ellie up, showering her daughter with kisses. 

“Putting it in the closet now.” Jay got up without another word. 

“Come on, my love. Time to open Mommy’s present.” Evie said as she picked up the last box. 

Ellie’s first present was a canvas with a painting on it. Mal had painted the three of them laying in bed. Evie was fast asleep in the middle, her lips pouty and her back against Mal’s chest. Her arm stretched over to rest on Ellie’s stomach; the baby was on her back, her arms above her head and her head turned towards her mother in her sleep. The Mal in the painting was awake, staring at both of the girls in complete awe. 

“I know it’s a weird gift for a baby, but I want her to always know how loved she is.”

Evie nodded in agreement with her bright, nearly blinding smile. “I love it.” 

Inside the box, there was also a couple of little toys and a new purple sleeper. They were random gifts, but Mal figured Ellie couldn’t really do much with the painting, so she wanted her to have something she could use right away. 

“So, how did everyone like their gifts?” Evie questioned, turning to look at each of them. They all immediately started to gush over their presents, and they decided as a group that this was definitely a tradition that they wanted to continue next year.

After that, everyone moved their presents aside and laid down on their stomachs on the carpet. Ellie was in the middle and they took turns holding up different objects to see if she would crawl to them. As expected, she went to Evie every single time, no matter what she held up, while she went to Jay the least (which Mal obviously made fun of him for). Ellie was crawling right towards Mal when Evie suddenly gasped. 

She sat up, wondering what made her make that noise. She saw that Evie’s attention was on the window, and when Mal turned around, she made a nearly identical sound. 

It was snowing. 

On the Isle, they didn’t get snow. It rained a lot, and there was sleet and hail, but never snow. When they were kids and Evie would talk about going to Auradon, she almost always added in that she wanted to see snow. 

Evie stood and walked over to the window seat, sitting down so she could stare outside. From where Mal sat, she could see that the snowflakes were big and puffy. She wondered if there was enough that it had covered the ground yet. 

Mal got up next, shifting Ellie to her hip and going to stand beside Evie. Not even a full minute passed before curiosity got the best of Jay and Carlos and they joined them too. It must have been snowing for a while because the ground was completely white. 

“What do you think it feels like?” Evie questioned, her voice quiet as if the moment would be ruined if she spoke too loudly. 

“Let’s go find out.” Mal proposed. 

She knew that this wasn’t a necessary trip. They had been trying so hard to only leave the room when they had to so that there was less of a chance that Quinton would see them, and especially Ellie. But this was something Evie had always talked about and Mal wanted her to experience it. 

She could see the hesitation across Evie’s features immediately and she knew she was going to say no. Mal hated it, but she understood. Keeping Ellie safe was the most important thing. 

“I think we’ll stay here.” Jay said, gesturing to himself and Carlos. “Ellie wants to stay too and have a snack.” 

Mal could have hugged him. 

Instantly, Evie’s smile returned. She looked at Mal and nodded her head in excitement. Mal passed the baby to Jay, mouthing a ‘thank you’ to him before she followed Evie to their closet. 

“Dress warm, you need a couple layers probably.” Mal stated. 

“How would you know?” Evie teased. “You’ve never seen snow either.” 

They got dressed quickly, each of the girls wearing two pairs of pants and three shirts. They put their coats on next, followed by hats and gloves, and then boots. 

“We’ll be back soon.” Evie promised. 

“Take your time.” Carlos told them with a smile. 

The girls left the room together, their fingers intertwined. “So do you think they actually cared about you seeing snow, or are they just making out?” 

Evie giggled. “Probably both.” 

Mal guided her into the staircase and they practically ran down the steps. “If we come back in and they’re kissing in front of my daughter, I get to slap Jay.” 

Once they got down to the first floor, Evie smiled softly. “I love when you do that.” 

Mal raised an eyebrow. “You like when I slap Jay?” 

“No, when you say _my daughter_. You don’t even hesitate. It’s like it’s completely natural.” 

“It is.” Mal said simply. “As far as I’m concerned, Gabriella is my daughter and she always will be.” 

Evie leaned in, placing a gentle kiss on the tip of Mal’s nose. “She’s lucky to have such a great mom.”

“Two great moms.” Mal corrected. “Now come on!” 

The first thing Mal did when they walked outside was scan her eyes over the area. Thanks to Uma, she knew that Quinton’s dorm room was in a building on the other side of Auradon Prep, so she wouldn’t have to worry about him watching them from his window or something. But she knew that he could still be lurking around. 

The second thing Mal did was wrap an arm around Evie’s waist and then grab one of her hands, leading her in a dance. Evie instantly burst out laughing. Mal knew how to do a lot of things, but dancing wasn’t one of them. It was worth the embarrassment when Evie tipped her head back, snowflakes gathering on her deep blue waves as she laughed. 

After a moment, they stopped moving around. Evie held her hand out, letting the snowflakes touch her palm. Mal saw that as soon as they landed on her skin, they dissolved. 

“It’s so pretty.” Evie said in awe. 

“Yeah.” Mal agreed, but she wasn’t looking at the snow. Evie’s nose and cheeks were red and her eyes were brighter than Mal had seen in a while. Who knew that a weird Auradon tradition could cause her girlfriend so much happiness? 

They ran around in the snow for a little while, throwing snowballs and making snow angels. Eventually, it got too cold for Evie, whose teeth were chattering so violently that Mal was scared she would bite through her tongue. 

“Come on, let’s go warm up. It’s almost time for Ellie’s nap anyway.” she kissed the tip of Evie’s red nose, then each of her cheeks. 

“Thank you.” Evie whispered, bringing her hands up to lock behind Mal’s neck. 

“For what?”

“Being you. Loving me. Helping me make today special.” Evie leaned forward until their foreheads touched. “I don’t think I’ve ever been this happy before.” 

Mal smiled. “There are going to way more days like this in your future.” 

“I hope so.” 

Mal gave her a gentle kiss. As much as she would love to make out with her incredibly gorgeous girlfriend in the middle of the snow, she could feel Evie shivering under her hands, and there was always the threat that her biggest enemy would somehow find them. She wrapped an arm around Evie’s waist and they walked inside together. 

When they got back to the room, the boys weren’t making out. They were sitting on the couch with a Christmas movie playing, holding mugs in their hands. Ellie was on Carlos’s lap and playing with a couple of her new toys. 

“How was it?” Carlos asked, looking over his shoulder to see them. 

“Amazing.” Evie gushed, her smile never leaving. 

“We made you hot chocolate.” Jay announced, gesturing towards the mugs sitting on the table. 

“Thanks. We’re gonna change.” Mal brought Evie into the closet. They stripped out of their wet clothes and changed into something comfy- Mal chose pajama pants and a hoodie, while Evie wore leggings and one of Mal’s sweatshirts. They went back out and squeezed onto the couch between the boys. 

“So, Ben’s coronation is coming up.” Jay said after a little while. 

“Yeah.” Evie softly replied. Mal knew that she was thinking about Quinton leaving once it was over. Her mind, however, was on a different topic.

“Do you ever wonder what will happen?” each of her friends turned to look at her. “What if my mother finds a way to get out? She will murder me with no hesitation for not listening to her.” 

This was the first time in a long time that they had talked about their parents’ plan for them to steal Fairy Godmother’s wand. Obviously as soon as they crossed the bridge into Auradon, they knew that they would never willingly complete a plan that would put them right back in their parents’ clutches. But it didn’t stop Mal from worrying. 

Evie grabbed her hand, pressing a kiss against the top of it. “She’d have to go through me first.” 

“Yep.” Jay agreed. 

“Me too.” Carlos added.

For once, Mal didn’t push the topic. She chose to trust them, and trust that there would be no possible way that Maleficent would escape the Isle. Right now, all she needed to worry about was enjoying the holiday with the four most important people in her life. 

\-----

Evie couldn’t believe how well the day was going. She tried pancakes and they were actually good, her friends loved her gifts, Ellie had started crawling, and it was snowing. Today was the best day she had had in a long time, and she knew that part of the reason she was able to be so calm was because of all the work that Fairy Godmother had put in. 

From the beginning of their time in Auradon, FG had been there. She stood by Evie’s side and earned her trust and whatever she could to help her. When Evie was making her gifts, she knew Fairy Godmother had to be on the list. 

She waited until Ellie went down for her nap. The boys were still on the couch and Mal was sprawled out on their bed next to her, her fingers lightly carding through Evie’s hair.

“M?”

“Hmmm?” Mal asked sleepily. She looked like she could fall asleep any minute. 

“I have a present for Fairy Godmother that I really want to give her. Do you think she’s at school today?”

“I don’t know. Maybe you could text Jane and find out?” 

“Good idea.” Evie attempted to put Ellie down on the mattress, but Mal reached out, taking their daughter in her arms instead. Evie grabbed her phone and sent a message to Jane. She was surprised that she responded almost immediately. 

“What did she say?” Mal questioned, her eyes fluttering shut. 

“She said that FG actually just ran back to her office to grab something, so it would be the perfect time.”

Mal hummed. “Okay, let’s go.” She took a second to open her eyes. 

“I can go with her, Mal.” Jay offered. “You stay here with Ellie and Carlos.”

Mal’s eyes were opened now and she sat up to get a good look at him. “Are you sure?” 

“Yeah. We’ll just run over to FG’s office and come right back.” 

Mal looked at Evie, and she knew that she was silently asking if that was okay. Evie gave her a kiss as an answer to her question. 

“Take a nap.” Evie told her. “I’ll join you when I get back.” 

“Text me if you need anything.”

“Kay.” Evie gave her another kiss, then went into the closet to get the present she had stashed there. She pulled on her coat and boots, but her gloves and hat were still soaking wet from when they went in the snow earlier. 

“Here.” Jay offered, holding out one of his red beanies to her. 

Evie tugged it onto her curls. “Thanks.” 

The two of them walked out of the room and took the stairs. As they moved, Evie kept her eyes scanning. She needed to be ready, just in case something happened. 

“What did you get her?” Jay asked. 

“Not telling.” Evie sing-songed. 

“The snow is crazy. I don’t get how it’s so fluffy, but slushes down so much at the same time.” He quickly turned to look at her before she could answer. “You don’t have to give me the scientific explanation.” 

Evie laughed. “Yeah, I guess I explain too much sometimes, don’t I?”

“It’s okay, Carlos does it too.” 

Evie smiled at the perfect transition into the conversation she really wanted to have. “Speaking of Carlos, what’s going on with you guys? You seem closer.” 

She knew that there never would have been a chance Jay would admit anything in front of Mal. Carlos would probably tell her, but they hadn’t spent any alone time together lately. She was hoping he would come clean now. 

For a second, Jay looked tense and Evie was worried he would tell her to mind her own business. But then his face softened and he sighed. 

“I don’t know.” He confessed. “Things are different.” 

“What do you mean?”

“We’ve been spending more time together and getting closer. But I don’t know, this is Carlos we’re talking about.” 

He didn’t need to elaborate for Evie to understand. She completely got the fact that he was scared to pursue anything with Carlos because of the impact it could have on their friendship. 

“You’ll never know until you take the leap.” Evie reminded him.

“Yeah, I guess.” 

She let the conversation drop, not wanting to make him uncomfortable. It was perfect timing too because they had just arrived outside of the building Fairy Godmother’s office was in. 

They took the stairs again, walking quickly in hopes that they wouldn’t miss the headmistress. Evie was relieved to see her moving around her office. 

“Fairy Godmother?” she called out softly, not wanting to startle her. 

The woman turned around, her features softening when she saw who it was. “Hello, Evie, Jay. Merry Christmas!”

“Merry Christmas.” They responded in unison. 

Evie stepped forward, leaving Jay standing by the door. She held the box awkwardly in her hand. “I have a gift for you.” 

Fairy Godmother stopped everything she was doing and turned to face her. “For me?”

Evie nodded. “You’ve helped me so much since I came here, and I know I haven’t made it easy on you. My eating habits are better than they’ve ever been, I have my daughter with me, and I’m doing my best to cope with everything else. I owe a lot of that to you.” 

“No, sweetheart.” FG reached out, holding her hand. “You’re so strong, Evie. You deserve all of the credit for that. I may have sat with you and listened, but you’re the one putting in all the work. You need to be proud of yourself.” 

Evie actually listened to her words. Maybe she did need to start being a little nicer to herself. 

“I want you to have this.” She held the box out, the older woman taking it from her hand. “It’s just something small.” 

Fairy Godmother unwrapped the box, then lifted the lid. She pulled out the dress that Evie had sewn in her signature blue. Even without measurements, Jay and FG could tell that it would fit her perfectly; that was just part of Evie’s amazing talents. 

“You made this for me?” she asked, her voice soft. 

“Yes.” Evie bit her lip. “If you don’t like it, I can make something else.” 

“No, this is beautiful.” She smiled at the blue haired girl and Evie noticed a tear slide down her cheek. “Can I give you a hug?” 

Normally, Evie would have to think about it, but today, she didn’t hesitate. Her anxiety was the lowest it had been in a long time, so she knew she could handle it. She allowed FG to wrap her in her arms. 

“You are such a sweet girl, you know that?” she said quietly. “I’m so happy I have gotten to know you, and so proud of all you have accomplished. I know you’re going to keep doing amazing things.” 

Evie squeezed her a little tighter. “I’m going to try my best.” She promised. She moved back to stand by Jay. “You probably want to get back to Jane and I have to get back to Ellie, so we’re going to go. Merry Christmas!” 

“Merry Christmas, children.” Fairy Godmother was still smiling, even as they walked out the door. 

“That was really nice of you.” Jay commented. “I don’t think I’ve ever seen her look that happy.” 

“I know she can be a little annoying sometimes, but she’s a good person. She cares about us so much.” 

“Yeah, she does.” Jay agreed.

They took the stairs down again and walked back into the winter snow. The newness still hadn’t worn off, but Evie was definitely starting to get cold. She picked up the pace. 

Then, a little bit ahead, she saw a figure walk out from behind one of the buildings. She didn’t know how, but she instantly knew who it was. Her blood ran cold. 

Evie felt Jay lock his hand with hers. She couldn’t believe that this was happening right now. 

“Hello, Genevieve.” Quinton greeted, his cold, dark eyes staring right into hers. Evie felt a shiver run down her spine, and it wasn’t from the weather. “I’ve been looking all over for you, but no one would tell me where your room is. I guess that’s your doing, huh?” he held a small red box out to her. “Merry Christmas.” 

“She doesn’t want whatever is in that box.” Jay snapped, knocking it out of Quinton’s hand and into the snow. 

But Quinton just laughed, his eyes flittering from Jay to Evie and back to Jay. “Careful, Jay. Mal isn’t here to boss you around right now. You wouldn’t want to start a war with another crew.” 

Evie couldn’t help the rage boiling within her. Why couldn’t she ever just have one good day? Why did something always have to happen? 

“We are in Auradon.” She spat. “We don’t care about crew and turf wars, we just want to be happy. Maybe you should try it sometime instead of just pissing everyone off.” 

Jay grabbed her hand, pulling her closer as he headed towards the closest building. Evie recognized it as the library, and she knew he was doing it so that Quinton wouldn’t be able to watch them go back to their dorm building and figure out where it was. 

Quinton laughed again and Evie resisted the urge to cover her ears. The sound was like nails on a chalkboard to her. “Trust me, my Queen. I’ll be happy very soon.” With that, he turned and walked in the direction they had just come from. 

Jay yanked Evie into the library, keeping her right next to him as he stared out the window, watching Quinton disappear. Evie squeezed her eyes shut, trying to get his face and his voice out of her head, but it wouldn’t stop. She could feel his hands on her body, his fist against her face, his fingers tangling in her hair. She whimpered, the noise immediately catching Jay’s attention. 

“Hey, it’s okay.” He tried to reassure her. “You’re alright.” 

Evie bit down on her bottom lip to try and keep the sob in that desperately wanted to escape. What if Quinton was still hiding nearby, watching to see where they went? What if he followed her back to the dorm room? What if…

“Evie.” Jay’s voice interrupted her racing thoughts. “You need to stop. Take a couple deep breaths. We need to get back to the room and we can’t do that if you’re freaking out. Close your eyes and think about good things.” 

But thinking about good things just made her want to cry even more. She knew this encounter with Quinton was going to ruin her whole day. He hadn’t been nearly as bold as the other day, and she knew it was because Jay was standing right there. It didn’t matter though; just seeing him was enough to set her off. 

She barely registered the fact that Jay had grabbed her hand. He was pulling her outside and they were running, but she couldn’t focus. She knew Jay would keep her safe and that he would watch out for Quinton. All Evie could think about was how with each footstep, it seemed like more and more of her breath was being stolen away. It only took a minute for her to realize she was starting to have a panic attack. 

After that, the tears slid freely down her cheeks. It wasn’t fucking fair. She didn’t want to lose it right now. She just wanted to keep being happy. Was that really too much to ask? 

By the time they got into the dorm building, it was pretty clear to her that this panic attack was happening whether she wanted it or not. She was breathing so hard that Jay pressed the button for the elevator instead of taking the stairs. When they got to their floor, Evie was hyperventilating. 

She felt like the world was spinning. She was dizzy and the edges of her vision were turning black. It was a solid ten minute walk to FG’s building and they had encountered Quinton about three minutes into the walk. That means she had been having a panic attack for nearly seven minutes now. 

“Come on, E.” Jay urged her. “You have to calm down.”

She wanted to listen. She wanted to just take a deep breath and walk in the room like nothing happened, like a normal person. 

But, like always, Evie was just prisoner to the war she was constantly fighting in her mind. 

\-----

Mal had been drifting off when she heard the dorm room door open a little too forcefully for her liking. She sat up instantly, Ellie in her arms as she assessed the situation for any possible danger. 

At first, she relaxed because she saw it was just Jay. But a second later, she noticed that he was practically dragging Evie into the room by her hand. As soon as Mal’s eyes landed on her girlfriend, she knew that something had happened. 

She quickly put Ellie in her crib and ran over to Evie. Jay was cupping her face and telling her to breathe, but it obviously wasn’t working. Mal not-so-gently pushed him out of the way. She put her hands on Evie’s hips, guiding her to sit on the bed the boys usually shared. 

“Hey baby, you need to take some breaths for me, okay?” she grabbed both of Evie’s hands in her own, pressing one to her chest. “Close your eyes, E. You need to inhale.” 

She noticed that Evie’s face was starting to turn red. Sometimes when Evie had panic attacks, she would just totally hold her breath and not get any air out. Right now, she was hyperventilating, so her breaths were coming in short spurts. It obviously wasn’t enough air for her body. 

Evie reached a hand up, putting it on her throat. Mal quickly grabbed it before she could scratch her skin. “I know. Come here.” She pulled her forward until they were in each other’s personal space. She put a hand on the back of Evie’s neck and guided her to rest her head on her shoulder. She could feel the pants tickling across the skin on her neck. 

Then, Evie was sitting up. Two seconds later, she leaned over and threw up on the floor. 

Mal’s heart broke at how hard she was struggling. As far as she knew, it had been a while since Evie threw up, and even longer since she had thrown up from a panic attack. 

“You’re okay. I’ve got you.” Mal lifted her up and carried her to the bathroom. She sat on the floor next to the toilet, just in case Evie got sick again. This time, she guided Evie’s head to lay right over her heart so she could hear her heartbeat. “Baby, you need to breath. You’re going too long without air.” She rubbed her back, hoping to stimulate her lungs. 

Evie was still struggling. She grabbed a fistful of Mal’s shirt and held on for dear life. Mal could feel her body becoming more and more sluggish. 

She reached over and turned on the faucet in the bath tub. She stuck her hands underneath the cold water, then brought them over and put them on Evie’s face. She was hoping it would help her calm down long enough to take a breath. 

“Come on, Princess.” Mal cupped her cheeks, pulling her so close that their lips nearly touched. “Breathe for me.” 

Finally, after what felt like forever, Evie finally took an actual breath. Mal continued to stroke her hair, whispering reassurances into Evie’s ear. She held her so close that she could feel Evie’s heart beating in her chest. 

As Evie calmed down, Mal could see the fight slipping out of her. Her eyes fluttered shut and a few minutes later, she was asleep. Mal was actually happy with that; she needed her to have a break. 

Now, she needed to figure out what had triggered this. 

Mal sat there on the bathroom floor, holding Evie for a little while longer. She needed to be sure she was actually sleeping before she got up and possibly disturbed her. Once she knew Evie was out, she stood and walked into the bedroom. 

Carlos and Jay were sitting silently on the bed they shared. They both looked up when they saw her, but she didn’t speak. She carried Evie over to bed and laid her down, tucking her into the blankets. 

Mal leaned down and pressed her lips against Evie’s forehead. “I love you.” She whispered into her skin. 

She walked over to where the boys were sitting and stood across from them. “What the fuck just happened?” 

“Quinton.” Jay nearly growled, the anger clear on his face. 

Mal should have known. “What did he do?” 

“He didn’t touch her, and he didn’t get to close, but he fucked with her mind. He said that he’s been looking for her but no one will give him her room number, and he tried to hand her a present, but I knocked it out of his hand. He was talking about crews and territory wars for a second, and E actually snapped back at him that none of that mattered. But of course when we walked away he had to start with his “my Queen” bullshit.” 

Mal frowned. She absolutely hated that nickname, and she knew that was one of the quickest ways to send Evie into a downward spiral. “What did he say?” 

_“I’ll be happy very soon, my Queen.”_ Jay repeated. 

“I swear to God, next time I see him, he’s dead.” Mal swore.

Carlos sighed. “You can’t. You’ll be sent back to the Isle.” 

“If Evie is safe, then it’s worth it.” Mal truly believed that. Did she want to be with Evie and Ellie? Of course. But she needed Evie to be safe. Judging by the at least fifteen minute long panic attack she just had, she would never be safe if he was alive. 

She heard movement behind her and turned, knowing it had to be Evie. She rushed to the bed, kneeling down beside it so that the first thing her girl would see was her. When Evie’s eyes fluttered open, she looked confused. Then, it all must have hit her because she rolled onto her back and stared up at the ceiling. 

“You’re safe now, baby girl.” Mal promised.

“Mal.” Evie whimpered. 

“I’m right here.” Mal grabbed her hand and kissed her knuckles. “I’ve got you.” 

“How did he find me?” Evie asked. “How did he know where I was going to be? He has to be watching.” 

“It could be a coincidence.” Mal stated, but she didn’t know how true that was. She was a paranoid person in general, so she didn’t think there was a chance in hell that Quinton just happened to stumble across Evie’s path. 

“Maybe once, but two times isn’t. He’s going to find me. He can’t get near this room, Mal. He can’t find out about Ellie.” Evie practically begged. 

But all Mal could think about was the fact that she had said ‘two times’. She got up, sitting on the bed next to Evie. She leaned over her so that she could see her face. “What did you say?” 

She could see the exact moment that realization dawned on Evie’s face. Her beautiful brown eyes that had been so bright earlier got wide, then she turned and buried her face in the pillow. 

Mal had to remind herself that Evie was extra sensitive right now and if she did or said the wrong thing, it could set her off. It was taking every ounce of her self-control not to grab her girlfriend and demand that she tell her what she was talking about. 

“I can’t help you if I don’t know what’s happening.” Mal decided on. She smoothed a hand over Evie’s hair. “I want you to be honest with me.” 

When Evie lifted her head up, she had tears streaming down her cheeks. “I can’t lose you.” 

“You won’t.” 

“If you kill him, you’re going to the Isle.” Evie insisted as she sat up fully so she could face her girlfriend. “That’s a fact, Mal. If you kill him, you are going to leave me.” 

Mal’s jaw locked. “Evie…” 

“No. Don’t sit here and tell me that it’s more important that I’m safe. Yeah, that would be nice, but I want you. You are the only thing that has kept me alive up until this point and I refuse to lose you.” 

“I need you to be safe. I don’t want you to constantly feel like you have to look over your shoulder. You deserve better than that.” 

“I deserve you!” Evie finally shouted, her voice cracking because of her tears. “After everything I’ve been through, I deserve to finally be happy with you. I want to raise our daughter together and buy our own house and get married and have more babies. All of this has to mean something, Mal. If you get locked up on the Isle, then all of my mother’s abuse, the men she would let in my room, the fact that she sold me…that’s all for nothing.” Evie sniffled. “I didn’t fight so hard to live through that just to lose you when we finally get to Auradon.” Her shoulders shook from the force of her sobs. “Please M. You can’t leave me.” 

Mal felt her own eyes fill with tears. “Shhh, it’s okay.” Mal wiped the tears off her cheeks. “Breathe, baby. You need to calm down.” 

“Please.” Evie practically begged. “You have to promise me.” Mal stared at her helplessly. “Promise me that you won’t kill him. Promise me that you won’t leave me. Promise this wasn’t all for nothing.” 

As much as Mal wanted to rip Quinton’s head off, she knew she couldn’t risk her relationship. It would absolutely shatter Evie if she was put back on the Isle. She would just have to find another way to get Quinton out of their lives. 

“I promise.” Mal practically whispered. “Do you hear me? I promise you.” She connected their lips in a kiss that tasted like Evie’s salty tears. “Now tell me what happened. Jay already explained today. Did you run into him another time?” 

Evie looked up at her with big watery puppy dog eyes. “Can we sit on the floor?” 

Mal got up without hesitation, moving to the floor and resting her back against the bed. Evie stood too and she waited for her to sit beside her, but she was frozen in place. 

“E…?”

“Can I sit on your lap?” 

“Of course, baby.” Mal took her hand, pulling her down to straddle her lap. She kissed her cheek, then her chin, and then her lips for a brief moment. “What happened?” 

“On Wednesday, I was leaving Fairy Godmother’s office after therapy. Uma was meeting me in the front of the building. I took the stairs by myself and then he was there.” Evie remembered, her eyes squeezing shut. Mal held her tighter. “He told me he had been looking for me. I tried to walk away and…” she bit her lip. 

Mal’s thumb immediately moved to stroke over her lips, freeing it from her teeth. “And then what?”

“He said he liked that I was getting feisty again.” Evie grimaced. Her body started to tremble and she looked right into Mal’s eyes. “You promise?” 

Mal knew right then that whatever Evie said next was going to piss her off. Otherwise she wouldn’t have tried to get her to promise again. “I promise, baby. What did he say to you?” 

“He said he paid a lot for me and he wouldn’t let that payment go to waste because it was so much fun breaking a slut like me.” 

Mal’s vision practically went black. She needed to kill him. Why had she promised? Maybe she wouldn’t kill him, but she was at least going to tie him up and torture him until he was within an inch of his life. 

She leaned in and kissed away the tears that had fallen down Evie’s cheeks. “You’re okay, I’ve got you.” 

After she calmed down, Evie rested her head on her shoulder, but continued to speak. “I told him I wasn’t a possession and to find someone else, and he said he’s only thought about me since he came to Auradon.” She choked on a sob. “He said h-he likes how my makeup runs w-w-when I cry and the feeling of my ribs s-s-snapping under his hands a-a-and the sound of my screams.”

Mal was so tense that her body was starting to ache. She knew she needed to calm down. If she was upset, it was only going to upset Evie. She didn’t think she could take another panic attack today. 

“Is there anything else?” Mal wondered, not knowing how it could get worse. 

But then, Evie nodded. “He touched my cheek and I told him to get off, but he said if I didn’t do what he wants, he was going to kill me and you guys. I tried to walk away from him, but he…” she trailed off. 

“What did he do?” 

Evie shook her head. “I can’t tell you. You’re going to kill him. I can’t lose you.” She pleaded. 

Mal didn’t know what to do. She had never struggled this hard with calming Evie down before. Her girlfriend had never doubted her words or promises. 

“It’s okay, E.” she was relieved to hear Carlos’s voice join the conversation. He came over and sat on one side of her, and Jay sat on the other. “Mal is going to keep her promise, right?” 

She so badly wanted to object, but she knew she couldn’t without pushing Evie over the edge. “Evie, look at me.” She commanded. Evie reluctantly lifted her head to make eye contact. “I promise you that I won’t kill him. I’m not leaving you. But I need you to tell me what else happened.” 

Mal could understand why this was hard for her. All of these years, Evie had never had to explain her encounters that happened with Quinton or the other men. Mal didn’t think Quinton raped her; there was no way Evie would have been able to hide that from her. But it was obvious that something else had really bothered her, and Mal needed to know what it was. 

“He grabbed me by my hair and said that if I screamed, everyone in Auradon would know that I used to beg him to fuck me.” Evie finally said. Her breathing was starting to quicken again. 

“Shhh, it’s alright. I know you didn’t do that. None of this was your fault, Princess.” Mal hugged her tight. “What did you do after that?”

“I headbutted him.” 

Mal smiled, giving her a kiss on the nose. “That’s my girl.”

“He wasn’t happy. He was about to hit me, but Uma ran in and threatened him with her knife. Finally he pushed me away and ran.” 

Mal let out a sigh of relief at the fact that this story was over. Then, it dawned on her that Evie had said she headbutted him. She knew from experience that that almost always left a nasty bruise. She smoothed her hand over Evie’s forehead, moving the hair away from her face. She didn’t see any sign of a bruise. 

“Uma did a healing spell.” Evie mumbled as she finally started calming down. “I didn’t want you to know. I didn’t want you to get sent away.” 

Mal stroked her cheek, but didn’t say a word. She definitely would have killed him if she knew what he had done. 

“So after it was all over, you came back here and Uma did the spell?” 

Evie looked down. “I had a panic attack in the bathroom.” 

“The bathroom at school?” she nodded. “Uma helped you?”

Evie shook her head no. “Uma didn’t know what to do. She wanted to call you, but I begged her not to. Audrey came in and she talked me through it.” 

“Listen to me.” Mal stared right into her eyes. “If you are ever having a panic attack, I want you to call me. I don’t care what the situation is, I never want you to have to sit and gasp for air and not have someone there who can help you through it. Even if you hadn’t told me what had caused it, I would have helped you calm down, baby.” 

“I’m sorry.” Evie whimpered. 

“It’s okay.” Mal pulled her closer. “We only have five more days. We can stay in this room, all four of us. We’re going to be okay.” 

Evie cuddled closer to her. “Promise?” 

Mal kissed her forehead. “Promise.”


End file.
